Your Song
by heartlines
Summary: Jesse Swanson believed in fate. He believed in love at first sight. And he believed that you could spend the rest of your life happily with one person. The story of Jesse and Beca during their Freshman year at Barden University, will expand on scenes in the movie.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I only got around to watching Pitch Perfect this past July (very late, I know) and I immediately fell in love with Jesse and Beca (especially Jesse). After reading nearly all of the amazing fic in this fandom, I've decided to contribute my own. This is intended to be set completely within the movie-verse, all canon events apply. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I've got a pretty big chunk of this story already written so updates shouldn't be too far and in between. :)

**Chapter One**

Jesse Swanson believed in fate. He believed in love at first sight. And he believed that you could spend the rest of your life happily with one person.

He was aware that he was possibly one of the only eighteen year old boys in the world to believe in such things. Some might call him a hopeless romantic, others a fool. Jesse thought he was probably a little of both and he had no problem with it.

When he turned his head in the backseat of his parent's car and saw a girl with an amazingly scary ear spike, darkly lined eyes, and huge ass headphones wrapped around her neck, he was infatuated. He sang to her, complete with air guitar riff, and he didn't care how much of a dork he must have looked like to her.

It was a whim that had made him sign up for the internship at the radio station. Benji had gone back to their room to practice more magic tricks to impress Bumper with, but Jesse stayed behind to check out some of the other clubs. Nothing caught his eye, although he did laugh at some crazy Australian chick harassing two overwhelmed looking deaf Jews. Being Jewish himself (but not deaf), he kept a wide berth from that booth. He stumbled onto the internship booth and figured that he could use a job, but he didn't want anything that would take too much time from his studies and rehearsals with the Treblemakers (if he hopefully made it in), so an on campus internship seemed perfect. He looked over the listings and listened to the guy manning the booth try to sell him on becoming a test subject for the effects of marijuana on a person's appetite, when his eyes landed on the radio station internship. He lived and breathed music and well, no one could accuse of him not liking the sound of his own voice, so it was a no brainer for him. He signed his name down, noticing that there was only one other name on the paper. A Rebeca Mitchell, his future co-worker it would seem. He wondered what she would be like but didn't dwell on it.

In a classic romantic comedy twist, it turns out that Rebeca Mitchell a.k.a Beca (_not_ Becky) is the very girl that Jesse had serenaded from his parent's car. It was fate, it had to be.

She was apathetic, surly, and seemed to speak in only monosyllables. In short, the exact opposite of Jesse, personality-wise. But that was okay because as Jesse had learned from the many many movies he had watched, opposites attract. Beca was a mystery, a puzzle, a nut with no visible cracks. And that intrigued Jesse. He was determined that by the end of the semester, he and Beca would be friends. He knew lovers was reaching far beyond the realms of possibility, even before Beca had told him as much, but best friends was definitely a goal that he could set for himself.

X

Jesse reminded Beca of an overexcited puppy. He was always smiling, he took great joy in finding inane things among the records, like a Billie Holiday record that he hadn't listened to in ages; and he could carry on entire conversations by himself with only a few nods and an occasional "Hm..." from her. Nothing ever seemed to bring him down; Not her silence and eye rolls, not becoming Luke's official lunch errand boy. Jesse was the deepest well of energy and optimism that Beca had ever seen.

It was exhausting at first. But as the days went on, Beca found herself getting used to it. She hadn't even realized that she was getting used to it until he didn't arrive for his shift one day. At first she figured that he was late, which wasn't that unusual much to Luke's irritation. But when thirty minutes had passed, she started to get a little worried. After forty-five minutes the silence in the station was starting to grate on Beca's nerves. It was never this quiet when Jesse was around and the silence seemed to highlight his absence acutely. It made Beca realize how big the station actually was, with its two floors of hopelessly disorganized records. She never realized how much space Jesse took up with his general presence and almost overwhelming energy. She wondered where he was.

After an hour and a fifteen minute internal debate with herself, Beca decided to ask Luke. She signaled for his attention through the window and he met her at the door.

"Hey, um, do you know where Jesse is?"

"Dunno. He called in and said he had some personal emergency. He offered to come in Friday night to make up for it so I'm not complaining."

"Oh," Beca said, fighting off the worry she could feel bubbling inside of her. Personal emergency? That didn't sound good. "He...didn't say what the emergency was?"

"Nope. I wouldn't have cared if he did. What you guys do on your own time is your own business. That it?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Luke nodded and disappeared back into the booth. It looked like Beca was facing the next three hours of stacking alone. A week ago this wouldn't have bothered her. But now, she was suddenly aware of how lonely the station could be.

She turned up the volume to the music outside of the booth and resumed her work, trying to ignore the niggling voice in the back of her head that was wondering if Jesse was okay.

The next day when she walked into the station, Beca felt something release inside of her chest when she saw Jesse casually perched on the desk, sorting through a box of CDs.

He looked up at her entrance. "Hey, miss me?"

"Darn, I was hoping you wouldn't be here again." She set her backpack on the desk and pulled another box towards herself.

Jesse grinned. "I know you missed me. Don't deny it. Luke said you asked about me."

She glared in the direction of the booth where the back of Luke's head was visible through the window. Traitor.

"He said, and I quote, 'Your girlfriend was asking about you, next time don't make me your messenger bird.'"

"So where were you?" Beca asked, choosing to ignore his poor imitation of Luke's British accent and the words that their boss had apparently said.

Jesse scratched the back of his neck and looked faintly embarrassed. Now Beca was intrigued. It wasn't like Jesse to get embarrassed over things, he always had such an air of confidence about him. Even when he was doing or saying the dorkiest things, he fully committed to it.

"Did an all-nighter for a paper?" She guessed.

"It's the third week of school," Jesse laughed. "I assure you I'm not that much of an overachiever."

"Hungover?"

"Nah, not really big on the drinking. Unless there's an occasion for it."

"Date?"

He grinned and leaned towards her. "Are you asking?"

Beca rolled her eyes.

"Did you go to some nerd convention?"

"Nope."

She sighed. "Seriously, Jesse?"

"Hey, I think this is the longest two-sided conversation we've ever had. I'm enjoying this."

"Are you really not going to tell me?"

"Will you stop talking to me if I do?"

She squinted at him.

"Alright. I just had to help out my roommate, Benji. He had a minor hamster emergency."

"Hamster emergency," Beca repeated.

"Yeah." Jesse carried a stack of CDs to the shelf behind Beca.

"Did it die?"

"What? No." Jesse looked at her through the shelf. "See, he had a boy hamster and a girl hamster and um, apparently nature took over and the girl had a bunch of baby hamsters. But Benji didn't know this until yesterday when the baby hamsters started walking and they all came out from under his bed and got loose in the hallways. People thought they were tiny rats and it caused a mild panic...so yeah."

Beca looked at him, trying to judge whether he was lying or not. "Dude, if you don't want to tell me..."

"I swear I'm not lying. Come on, run away hamster babies? Would I make this up?"

She bit back a smile and shook her head.

"It was an interesting afternoon, at least," he said.

"Lucky you. It was boring as hell here."

"Aww...See, I knew you missed me!" Jesse grinned widely at her. He started following her around the shelves as she stacked her armful of CDs. "Did you miss the dulcet tones of my voice? My many movie and pop culture references? My wit and humor? My dashing charm?"

"Dude! Stop!" She shoved her remaining CDs onto his chest. She could see the laughter dancing in his eyes and she stalked back to the table, beyond annoyed with him.

Except...there was something in his presence across the room that somehow made Beca feel not so alone in this place. And she found she couldn't hold onto her annoyance for very long.

X

Jesse was nervous. He knew that he could sing and that he could sing well. He had been in his school choir, had done school and community theatre pretty much all of his life. Growing up, he had often been roped into singing at family Bar Mitzvahs and weddings, and he'd (unsuccesfully) tried to start a band in high school. Music is and always has been the biggest part of his life. But Barden was still new and unfamiliar territory for Jesse. Benji had shown him the Youtube videos of the Treblemaker's performances. They were really good. And also pretty exclusive as far as the school's a capella groups go. They only took in two or three new members per year. Jesse desperately hoped that he and Benji would be those two.

"_Here's the thing, we started out friends. It was cool but it was all pretend. Yeah yeah, since you've been gone. You dedicated, you took the time. Wasn't long til I called you mine. Yeah yeah, since you've been gone. And why don't I ever you say I just wanna be with you. How come I never hear you say...Since you've been gone. I can breathe for the first time. I'm so moving on. Yeah yeah. Thanks to you, I get what I want. Since you've been gone..."_

"I didn't peg you for a Kelly Clarkson fan."

Jesse jumped about a foot in the air. The CDs he was holding went crashing to the ground. He turned to see a smirking Beca looking back at him.

"What. Are you doing?"

"I think I should ask you that, Kelly."

He could feel his face heat up. He wondered how long she'd been standing there. He came up to the second floor so that he could get some practice in while he worked. He didn't think he'd been singing that loud.

"I was just practicing," he said as he bent down to pick up the fallen CDs. Surprisingly, Beca came over to help him.

"For what? American Idol?"

"Haha. No, a capella auditions are today. I'm going to be a Treblemaker, remember?"

"Ah." She nodded. "Well, good luck with that." She stood up and handed him her stack of CDs.

"That's it?" He asked when she turned away. "No cutting comments about how lame a capella is?"

She looked at him carefully, her brow wrinkling in a way that Jesse couldn't help but think was adorable. "What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

Jesse tried to laugh but even he knew what a pathetic attempt it was as a very hollow sounding chuckle came out. "Me nervous? Nah. I mean, I've totally got this."

Beca's smile widened. "You're practically sweating."

He turned back to the shelf and resumed his task of putting the CDs into their rightful places on the shelves.

Beca wasn't going to let him ignore her, however, and she came over to stand beside him.

"Now this is new. Overconfident, super cocky Jesse Swanson is actually nervous about something? This is one for the books."

He nodded his head. "Yeah yeah, have your fun. The Treblemakers only accept two or three new members per year. My roommate Benji is like their biggest fan. He really wants to get in and he definitely has the voice for it. The thing is, Benji is kind of..." He glanced at her. "Unique. I mean, he's totally awesome but he's not that great with people. And the leader Bumper has a reputation for being kind of an ass. So if Benji were to get in...Well, I just think it'd be better if it was the two of us. So there'd be someone to keep Bumper off his back."

Beca frowned. "Wait, do you actually want to join the Treblemakers? Or are you just doing it to protect your roommate?"

"Yeah, I want to do it. Organized nerd singing? Totally my thing. Plus the Trebles are the reigning ICCA champions. They're really good. It's just, Benji introduced me to it all. If he hadn't been my roommate I don't know if I'd even be auditioning."

Beca looked at him in a way that made something twist in Jesse's stomach. Right in that moment, as she stared into his eyes and gave him all of her undivided attention, he felt...exposed.

"You're really good, you know. From what I just heard anyway. I mean, you have a nice voice. I think you'll probably get in, for what it's worth. And I guess it's pretty cool that you want to do this for your roommate."

He grinned. "Did Beca Mitchell just give me a compliment?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it."

"I think you just gave me a lot of compliments."

"Don't let it go to your head, nerd." She walked over to a box of CDs and began to alphabetize them. Jesse followed her, abandoning his own stacking.

"I'm leaving a little early to meet Benji so that we can head to the auditorium together. Hey, do you want to come? I mean, I know you think this stuff is totally lame. But you could come as moral support. Be my little cheerleader? You don't need pom poms but I wouldn't be opposed to seeing you in a tiny skirt." Off Beca's glare. "No? That's a no. Okay."

He backed away from her with his hands up. "Just thought I'd ask."

Jesse couldn't wipe the huge grin off his face as he went back to his sorting. He made sure to keep his back to Beca so that she wouldn't see and think he was a complete idiot. Well, more of an idiot.

X

"You're a Barden Bella."

"Stop saying that."

"You, Ms. Mitchell. Ms. Alternative. Ms. Broody and Mysterious. Ms. Scary ear spike girl belong to an a cappella group."

"Seriously, dude. Shut up."

Beca looked at him and wanted to punch that huge ass grin off his smug face.

"I'm just trying to wrap my mind around this. Why didn't you tell me you were going to audition?"

"I didn't know I was going to," she answered honestly.

"So did you just stumble into the auditorium while looking for the knitting club and thought 'What the hey? Since I'm here...'"

Beca sighed. "How are you even conscious right now? You were pretty wasted last night."

"I took my brother's miracle hangover cure when I woke up this morning. The most disgusting thing you'll ever taste but surprisingly effective. Thank you, by the way, for getting me home. Benji said you took care of me."

"He exaggerates. Besides, someone had to take your drunk ass home before you passed out on one of the cement benches."

"I didn't know you cared so much." Jesse grinned widely.

Beca rolled her eyes and shoved her remaining handful of CDs onto his chest. "I'm out. I told Luke I'm ditching early today."

"Why?" Jesse looked adorably confused for a moment until his expression cleared and his eyes brightened. "You have practice, don't you?"

She shrugged her backpack on and refused to answer him.

"Already? Wow, they said Aubrey was...um, _strict_...but practice the day after Hood Night?"

"Gotta get the torture over with," Beca said. "See ya nerd."

"Good luck!" Jesse calls after her retreating back.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you guys for your response to the last chapter. I'm glad you liked it. This one is a bit longer so enjoy and let me know what you think. :D

**Chapter Two**

He was wearing her down, Jesse could tell. He saw her biting back smiles at his jokes, and holding back laughs at his foolish antics around the station. They'd established a rhythm as they worked and she actually talked to him now. They had entire (two sided!) conversations about their favorite musical artists and argued about their favorite albums and favorite songs. Just the other day they had a discussion about the merits of Michael Jackson's music when he was black versus when he was white. That led to Jesse belting out his own powerful rendition of _You Are Not Alone_, which made Beca throw balls of paper at him that he tried to dodge. Luke came out of the booth to tell them to quit making so much noise and to do actual work. He'd also thrown a "You're a horrible Michael Jackson" at Jesse before retreating back angrily into the booth. This made Beca collapse into a fit of giggles and it wasn't long before Jesse joined her. He'd later been punished with more errands besides Luke's usual lunch run but it was so worth it to see Beca laugh like that, to see her let loose and goof off with him. That was a good day.

And now Jesse was ready to take things a step further. He was going to ask Beca to dinner.

No, not like that. He wished.

But he knew Beca well enough by now to know that that would be pressing his luck in the biggest way. No, he was just going to casually ask Beca to grab dinner with him and Benji at the dining hall. There was no way that anything romantic could be read into that invitation. Jesse just wanted to spend some time with Beca outside of the radio station. He thought that was an important next step in their becoming friends.

He finished stacking his cart of records and emerged from behind the shelves to see Beca across the room struggling to place a letter A CD in its place on the top shelf. She bounced up on her tiptoes and huffed in frustration as she failed to reach the shelf. Jesse couldn't help but grin. She was adorable.

He quickly and silently made his way across the room and plucked the CD out of her hand, easily putting it in its place on the shelf. Beca once again huffs in annoyance.

"I thought we agreed that A through E belonged to me, shorty."

Beca crossed her arms and glared at him. "You were taking such a longass time with the records that I had to do this myself." She gestured to the table, which was half full with organized stacks of alphabetized CDs.

"Hey, my cart was completely full," Jesse defended himself. "And I had to grab Luke's lunch. Again."

"Whatever, weirdo. Just help me with this, will you?" She grabbed the stack of A CDs and handed them to him.

He saluted her with one hand and got to work, noticing that Beca chose to work next to him, stacking CDs onto the middle shelves.

"How are things going with the Bellas?" He asked.

Beca blew a breath in annoyance. "The songs we have to sing are perhaps the worst songs on the planet and the choreography we have to do is completely ridiculous."

"Wow, you sound like you're having so much fun."

"I don't even know why I'm doing it."

"Why are you doing it? I mean, you never really told me why you joined in the first place. And I admit, I'm kind of surprised you've lasted this long. I've heard the stories and Aubrey doesn't sound all that pleasant."

"Ugh. She's a controlling, obsessive, uptight pain in the ass," Beca grunted.

Jesse bit back a smile. "Yeah, that's the impression I get. Which brings me back to my question, why are you still doing it?"

Beca shrugged. "My dad told me to join a school club so I did, I joined. I'm...making an effort at this college thing."

Jesse paused his stacking to look at her. "That's cool, I guess. You just don't strike me as the type to do something because someone told you to."

"I'm not. It's just..." Beca turned back to the table, her shoulders tensing up in a way that told Jesse he'd struck a chord with her.

"What?"

Beca studied him in a way that made Jesse just the slightest bit uncomfortable. Finally, after about a minute but what felt like hours to him, Beca nodded to herself, seemingly having found whatever it was that she was looking for.

"I don't really want to be here at Barden. I'm just here because my dad is a professor and the tuition is free so he strong-armed me into coming here."

"Your dad's a professor here?" Jesse asked, genuinely surprised. "Any chance I'll be in his class?"

"Not unless you're a book geek as well as a music geek. He teaches Comparative Lit."

"That's awesome. Definitely not a taxi driver then?"

He's rewarded with a small, genuine smile that lights up her eyes and Jesse's heart freaking flutters. _Flutters_. Peter was right, he really can be a girl sometimes.

"No. Although I'd like to hear you ask him that. Like most stodgy professors, he likes to throw his doctorate in people's faces whenever he can."

Jesse tried not to beam too hard at the thought of meeting Beca's dad. He'd have to make a good first impression. No, he was getting way ahead of himself.

"If you don't want to be at Barden then where do you want to be?"

"LA. I want to be a producer someday and I just want to be there already, paying my dues, trying to make music. Not sitting in an Intro to Philo class and trying not to fall asleep. This whole college thing is just a waste of time."

Jesse could have argued that. He definitely wanted to argue that, in fact. But he knew that Beca wouldn't appreciate it and he didn't want to give her a reason to shut down on him. He had a feeling that she was telling him much more about herself than she usually told people.

"A few weeks ago my dad told me that if I really tried at this college thing...You know, go to classes, join a club, make friends...If I do that and I still want to go to LA at the end of the year then I can quit school and he'll help me move out there."

Jesse placed several The Clash albums on the shelf and tried not to show his minor internal panic at the thought of Beca leaving Barden. "Sounds like a good deal."

"As long as I get to LA, I guess I can put up with this place for awhile."

"Who knows? You might even like it better here." He smiled teasingly.

Beca scoffed.

"Come on, you know you'll miss me."

She pushed in several letter M albums. "I highly doubt it."

"_When I'm gone, when I'm gone, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone..."_

"Oh my God, stop." Beca laughed.

"I've had that song stuck in my head for weeks, by the way. Thank you for that."

She rolled her eyes and finished shelving the last of the CDs. "Looks like we're done here, weirdo."

"It's six o'clock," he pointed out.

"Yup, done for the day."

"Wanna grab something to eat?" He asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. "I'm supposed to be meet Benji and well, I don't know how you feel about the dining quality of this fine institution." He held the door of the station open for her. "Personally, I feel like it's equivalent to chewing cardboard but hey, we poor college students must eat, right?"

He turned to her expectantly and Beca fidgeted with the straps of her backpack. He could see the wariness in her eyes, practically feel her body vibrating with a nervous energy. Jesse braced himself for a 'no'.

"Sure. Whatever, nerd."

Jesse reeled back in shock. Had she actually said yes?

He didn't notice that he had stopped walking until Beca had gotten ahead of him and looked back in askance. He snapped out of his stupor and hurriedly caught up her.

"I hope you don't mind magic tricks," he said. "Benji has plenty up his sleeve. Literally."

"I know. He tried to show me one after we got your heavy drunk ass into bed."

Jesse grinned widely despite the reminder of his drunken antics. "See? You've bonded already."

"How did this school put the two nerdiest guys in the state in a room together?" Beca wondered, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

"You mean the two most awesome guys? Just sheer luck, I guess. Or fate."

"Fate?" Beca raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Sure. Think about it. Benji's an awesome guy but not many people would put up with half of their room being a shrine to Star Wars, or having a hamster crawl up their leg in the middle of the night, or waking up to swords sticking in the wall above their heads. That kind of stuff would freak most people out. But me? I just roll with it. I think it's hilarious most of the time, when I'm not afraid of the swords maiming me in my sleep. And Benji? He puts up with stuff from me too. Like how I have to watch a new movie twice in a row to fully take it in, how I always talk through movies, and how I constantly talk about..." He stopped short.

Beca looked up at him in confusion. "About what?"

"Music," he said so lamely that Beca knew he had to be lying. But she didn't push it.

"What does that have to do with fate?"

"I just think that Benji and I were meant to be roommates. And best friends."

"How romantic. You two have a regular bromance going on."

"Platonic bromance." Jesse shook a finger at her and Beca grinned. "Just to be clear."

"I think its fate that we met too," he added.

"Oh?"

"Come on, I sang to you from my parent's car and then we end up working together. It's like something straight out of a movie. Not even I could have predicted that would happen. And admit it, even if you think I'm weird, and dorky, and annoying; at least I'm making your enforced stay here at Barden a little less boring."

They reached the dining hall and Jesse held the door open for her. They spotted Benji at a table in the middle of the hall and joined the line to grab their food. Beca was silent as Jesse mulled over whether he wanted lasagna or macaroni and cheese. She was thinking about what he said and how he was actually sort of right. Sure, Jesse was overeager and overenthusiastic and just over _everything_. But he was also funny and he talked to her, really talked to her in a way that no one else in this place did. And on the occasions that she had something to say, he really listened too. He was making an effort to be her friend that no one else, besides the Bellas, have tried to do in a very long time. Not since Beca got her piercings and tattoos and planted the surly, I-hate-the-world expression permanently on her face. People had pretty much kept a wide berth from her since then, deeming her too "alternative" or "goth". Jesse wasn't deterred, however, and when it came to sarcasm and smart quips, he gave as good as he got. Beca felt that she could admit to herself (not to Jesse, never to Jesse) that she enjoyed being around him. And the next time her dad asks her if she's made any friends, she could answer with honesty that yes, she has.

They got their food, Jesse went with the lasagna, and made their way over to Benji.

"Hey, Benji," Jesse said. "I believe you know Beca."

Benji nodded enthusiastically. "Hi Beca!"

She smiled. "Hey."

"How's work at the station going?" Benji asked.

"Boring," Beca said at the same time that Jesse said "Fantastic!"

"Hey now!" Jesse turned to her and put his hand on his chest in mock offense.

"You can't possibly like stacking CDs." Beca said. "Or being Luke's official lunch bitch."

"Well, no. Those things suck and not what I signed up for when I saw 'Radio Station Internship' in big, shiny letters at the internship booth. But the company isn't bad. " He grinned at her and Beca rolled her eyes.

"How are your classes going, Benji?" She asked, more to distract herself from Jesse's goofy grin and intense stare.

"Pretty good. You're in my Intro to Philosophy class, you know," he said.

Beca's head shot up. She had never noticed him, but then she hardly ever went to that class.

"You can borrow my notes if you want," he offered, seemingly reading her guilty expression.

"Why would she need to borrow your notes?" Jesse asked. "Oh. You always ditch that class, don't you?"

"It's a boring class!" Beca defended.

"You don't miss much," Benji assured her. "All of the lectures are in the readings."

"Hey, why don't you sit by me next class?" Beca said.

"Really? I mean, I recognized you before but I didn't know..."

"Yeah, sure. You can keep me from falling asleep."

Jesse was watching this exchange with a big smile on his face and Beca knew that she would be in for it later. He looked like he was going to say something but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Trebles in the dining hall. The group, clad in their signature maroon hoodies, piled in through the front doors, Bumper in the lead, with all of the arrogance and swagger that by now Beca knew was characteristic of their group.

"Yo Jesse!" Bumper yelled. "Practice right now. Move yo ass!"

Jesse cursed and hurriedly picked up his tray. "I completely forgot. Sorry guys, I have to go."

Beca watched as Jesse made his way over to his fellow Treblemakers. The one that they called Unicycle (she knew this because of Stacie's highly inappropriate comments about his abs) threw an arm around Jesse's shoulders and he was lost in the middle of the group as they left the dining hall as rowdily as they came in.

Beca had a hard time reconciling in her head how Jesse, who was as sweet and harmless as a puppy, could belong to a group like the Treblemakers. Their leader was a gigantic douchebag and yeah they were a talented bunch, Beca had seen Youtube videos of their past performances thanks to Fat Amy, Stacie, and Cynthia Rose physically forcing her to sit down and watch them all. But their songs and dance moves were a little bit sexualized. The group obviously had massive sex appeal and they weren't afraid to use it. She just couldn't picture Jesse among them even though she knew that he could sing.

When they had left Beca brought her attention back to her lone remaining dinner companion. Benji had his head turned to the door; a sad, wistful look on his face. Beca remembered what Jesse had said about Benji really wanting to be part of the Treblemakers and she felt bad for the guy. If Jesse was a puppy, Benji was like a little gerbil. Watching him be crushed was unbearable, even for her.

"So, um, that Bumper is quite a character," she said.

"He took over the group in his sophomore year and he's led them through four ICCA championships."

"Four? Wouldn't it be three?"

"It's his fifth year here at Barden. He took less classes each semester than he'd need to graduate so that he could stay with the Trebles an extra year."

"Well...That's..." Beca didn't know what to say. She wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible, she couldn't imagine why anyone would willingly prolong their stay in this money sucking pit of an institution that they call higher education.

"He called my magic tricks lame. And he said my sideburns make me look like the aborted child of Wolverine."

Beca looked at Benji's slumped shoulders and despondent face and felt a fury bubble inside her chest towards the sandal-clad, cocky, son of a bitch Treble leader. She knew that Bumper took every and any opportunity to insult the Bellas and make fun of Aubrey's vomit spree, she didn't much care. It was just juvenile rivalry shit that she had no desire to get involved in. But what Bumper was doing to Benji was not okay in Beca's books.

"Don't listen to Bumper, Benji. Jesse said your magic tricks are amazing and I think your sideburns suit you. Besides, Jesse says you have a killer voice and you'll probably make it into the Trebles next year. You'll see."

Benji beamed back at her. "Jesse said all that?"

She might have slightly exaggerated a few things but that was generally the gist of what Jesse was always telling her about his roommate so Beca felt confident in smiling back and nodding reassuringly. "Yeah."

"He's great, isn't he? I was nervous about who my roommate would be before I came to Barden. Most people weren't really nice to me in high school. But Jesse's the nicest person I've ever met."

"Yeah. He's...pretty great." Beca couldn't help but smile as Benji practically glowed as he gushed about Jesse. It sounded like Jesse was the first real friend he's had in a long time and Beca could relate. Jesse seemed to have a knack for befriending people on the fringes of the social ladder. Someone completely apathetic like herself and someone rejected, like Benji. Jesse's kindness and effusive optimism made it impossible not to get sucked into his personal orbit.

When they finished eating Benji offered to walk Beca to her dorm but she waved him away, saying that she could manage on her own. Unlike Jesse, who probably would have insisted on walking her, Benji smiled and said he'd see her in Intro to Philo. Beca watched him walk away, and was he really wearing a cape? She shook her head and began the trek to her own dorm. It figures that she would befriend two of the biggest weirdos in the school. And then she had to stop herself because she actually thought of the boys as her friends. A month ago she had been content and determined to be a loner, simply going through the motions of being at this school. Now she was part of an a capella group with girls who were completely crazy but that she could actually stand to be around. And that was saying a lot, considering she's always been a girl without a lot of girl friends. On top of that she had befriended two guys as well, one of whom she's only really known for about an hour and already she feels an older sister protectiveness towards. The other of whom she was trying very hard not to think about.

Beca still wanted to go to LA with every fiber of her being. But Jesse was right. For right now, Barden wasn't a bad holding spot. At least her dad can't say she's not keeping up her end of the bargain.

X

It becomes a thing. Beca doesn't know how it happens but it does.

She usually eats lunch or dinner (or both) with Jesse and sometimes Benji. At first it's because he pesters her so much that she has no choice but to give in and if she's honest, it's nice to not have to eat alone in the dining hall. Jesse and Benji are nerds, and they're at their nerdiest when they're together, but they aren't bad company. Soon, much sooner than Beca lets herself realize, the lunches and dinners go from whenever Jesse and Beca are together and it's a convenient time to eat (like leaving the radio station after work) to meeting up outside one of their classrooms or at the dining hall. Jesse figures out Beca's schedule pretty quick and it isn't long before she knows his as well.

About a week into having these meals together, they're spotted.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Our Beca cavorting with the enemy."

Beca looks up to see Fat Amy and Stacie standing over her.

"Hey guys," she says.

Apparently they take this as an invitation because they both plop their trays down and Fat Amy takes the seat beside Beca while Stacie sits beside Jesse.

"So Becs, aren't you going to introduce us to your fine piece of mancandy?" Fat Amy asks.

Beca sighs deeply. "Jesse, Fat Amy, Stacie." She gestures to each in turn.

Jesse grins at them and nods. "Ladies."

"Treble." Fat Amy nods back.

"You're a cute one, aren't you?" Stacie scoots her chair closer to Jesse and Beca narrows her eyes as she watches Stacie run a hand down Jesse's arm. The very arm that Beca had _not_ been trying to not think about for weeks and Stacie was getting her little, perfectly manicured paws all over it.

Jesse looked vaguely uncomfortable and tried to lean away from Stacie's leering looks. Fat Amy not so subtly kicked Stacie under the table.

"Ow!" She jumped away from Jesse.

He looks from the girls to Beca then moves to get up. "Well, I have to get to class. Ladies, it was nice meeting you officially. See you later, Becs?"

She met his eyes and nodded.

"Mm...mm...mmm..." Stacie tilted her head as she watched Jesse walk away, which Beca did not appreciate and wished that Fat Amy would kick her again. "Now, that's a fine piece."

"Not bad," Fat Amy observed. "A little too flat for my taste but it could be worse."

"Okay, can you guys stop staring at Jesse's ass now?" Beca asked.

"I give it a six," Fat Amy continued as if Beca hadn't spoken.

"No way, that's at least an eight," Stacie argued and then frowned when Jesse reached the doors of the dining hall and her eye candy was gone. She turned back to face Fat Amy and Beca.

"What do you think, Beca?" Stacie asked her. "Scale of one to ten, how deliciously squeezable is Jesse's ass?"

Beca recoils from the question and the scary squeezing gesture Stacie makes with both her hands.

Fortunately she's saved from saying anything by Amy cutting in. "No, she can't answer that fairly because she's..._tapping that_," she sings in a high soprano and then makes a slapping gesture that makes Beca want to scrub her eyes out after watching.

Stacie smirks and turns her full attention on Beca. "Don't worry, we won't tell Aubrey as long as you give us the deets."

"There's no deets to give, okay?" Beca said. "Jesse and I aren't sleeping together. We're friends."

"Oh come on!" Fat Amy rolled her eyes. "Don't think that we don't see you guys together all the time."

Stacie nodded in agreement. "Cynthia Rose saw you guys eating here last week, Jessica saw you guys walking together yesterday, and Denise saw him waiting outside of your classroom the other day."

"That is way too much time to spend with a guy you're not fucking," Fat Amy put in.

"Or dating," Stacie added.

Fat Amy stared at her. "What'd I say?"

Beca gaped at them. "That...What are you guys doing, following me around and keeping tabs on me?"

"Nah," Stacie shrugged. "You just happen to have the most interesting love life right now. Since you're having this secret affair with the enemy. Don't worry, Aubrey doesn't know. But you guys might want to keep it a little more on the DL, word of advice. The way you two go around, she's bound to see you guys eventually."

Beca's head was spinning, she didn't know how to process any of this. "There is no secret affair!" She blurted.

Fat Amy's and Stacie's faces fell simultaneously. It would have been funny if Beca didn't feel like knocking their heads together right then.

"So you're not getting Trebleboned?" Stacie asked.

"No!"

"But you want to be, right?"

"No!" To Beca's dismay, that no didn't come out as forcefully as the first one. Both Fat Amy and Stacie caught it and the shit eating grins was back on their faces.

"Ooh yeah...Beca wants it!" Fat Amy sang out gleefully.

"Will you keep your voice down?" Beca scolded. "And no, I don't. I told you, we're friends."

"Sure, and that's why you looked like you wanted to tear Stacie a new one earlier when she had her hands all over your 'friend'." Fat Amy made the air quotations with her fingers.

"I did not..." Beca sensed that it would be pointless to argue and started cleaning up her tray. "Look, I have to get to class."

"You know, you should make a move already. A guy that looks like Jesse? He's gonna get snatched up quick."

Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's got the sweet, nice guy look to him. Chicks dig that these days. I mean, the tattooed, leather wearing bad boys still have their appeal but girls are all over the nice looking dudes now."

Beca didn't know why they were still talking about this. She didn't know why she was still sitting here.

"Hasn't he made a move yet?" Stacie asked.

"No!" Beca exclaimed. She was really starting to lose her patience now. "There are no moves to be made because we are _friends_."

Stacie and Fat Amy looked at each other.

"Maybe he has a girlfriend," Stacie said.

"High school sweetheart?"

"He doesn't have a girlfriend," Beca cut in.

"Did he say that?" Stacie asked.

"No, but..." Beca was at a loss. Jesse having a girlfriend was impossible. He wouldn't hang out with her all the time and flirt with her the way he does if he has a girlfriend...right?

"Then you never know," Stacie countered.

"True," Fat Amy said. "Sometimes nice guys are the biggest jerks."

"And he is a Treble." Stacie shrugged.

"What does that have to do anything?" Beca asked.

"I don't exactly agree with Aubrey's no Trebleboning rule," Fat Amy said. "But the lot of them are sleazebags. Take a look at Bumper. Biggest piece of ass shit I've ever seen and he's their leader." She forcefully stabbed her green beans with her fork like she was imagining it was Bumper's head and Beca couldn't help but wince.

Stacie studied Fat Amy critically. "You know, you say hate Bumper but you spend a lot of time talking to him and about him."

"Because he's an irritating little cabbage patch and I want to take all those ICCA trophies the Trebles have and shove them up his tiny arsehole..."

And Beca has had enough of this conversation. She takes her tray and stands up. "Bye guys, I'll see you at rehearsal."

They both waved her off absentmindedly, too engrossed in their conversation and Amy's graphic descriptions on the different ways she'd like to maim the Treble leader.

Beca stepped outside, blinking against the bright sun. She wanted to scrub that entire conversation from her mind but she couldn't get rid of the small voice in the back of her mind that was asking _did Jesse have a girlfriend_?

She had gotten to know Jesse quite well over the past few weeks, for the most part because he wouldn't shut up, and he wasn't just a nice guy, he was a nice _person_. He's one of those people that leaves tips in the tip jar at Starbucks, he once left her side mid-conversation to help a girl that had dropped her books and once she was set, he returned to Beca's side as if nothing had happened. Beca was pretty sure that Jesse would be the type of guy to help an old lady cross the street, and then he'd walk her home and help her unload her groceries while she regales him with tales of her past and/or grandkids. That was the type of person Jesse was. The type of person that by Beca's cynical view of the world, shouldn't exist. Yet there he was.

Was Fat Amy right, though? Was Jesse just acting the part of the nice guy? It made more sense to Beca than than a guy like Jesse actually existing, let alone showing an interest in someone like her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Jesse watched Beca limp into the station, a scowl on her face.

"That's a really good Hunchback of Notre Dame impression you've got going there," he remarked.

"Don't get smart with me today, Swanson. I'm not in the mood." Beca threw her bag onto the table and pulled off her shoes, breathing a sigh of relief as she did so.

He had to raise an eyebrow at her choice of footwear. "Are those heels?"

"What else do they look like to you?" Beca all but snarled.

Jesse took a giant step back. She had one of the said heels in her hand and the end of it looked very pointy and sharp.

Beca seemed to deflate when she saw the real fear on Jesse's face. She dropped the heels and kicked them under the table, out of sight. "Sorry. I've been wearing these shoes all day and my feet are killing me. I have blisters on top of my blisters."

"Why are you wearing them then?"

"Aubrey's making us wear them all week to break them in and so that we can get used to them."

Jesse remembered when his little sister, Katie, attended her first homecoming dance last year. She bought her first real pair of heels and limped in them all over the house a week before the dance so that she could break them in. She'd also stepped on his feet a number of times when he practiced dancing with her and man, did they hurt. He'll never understand why girls insist on torturing their feet.

"Aubrey's not here right now. Just change into another pair of shoes."

Beca stared at him.

"You didn't bring another pair?"

She was still staring. Jesse was starting to wonder if he had something on his face. Or maybe his teeth, he did have a salad for lunch...

"Fuck!" Beca dropped her head into her hands. "Why the hell didn't I think of that?"

He chuckled. He couldn't help it, she was adorable. Yes, he thought this about her at least twenty times a day. And no, he never voiced the thought out loud because he had no doubt that Beca would not hesitate to impale and maim him with her scary ear spike if she ever heard herself described as "adorable."

"Now I have to walk barefoot over this gross floor for three hours," she moaned into her hands.

"I can help with that." Jesse opened up his backpack, dug around a bit, his hand emerging with the extra pair of socks he found in there. He tossed them to her. "Here, put those on. They'll be a bit big but it's better than nothing, right? Don't worry, they're clean," he clarified when he saw her puzzled face, staring at the socks in her hand.

"Why do you have an extra pair of socks in your bag?"

He shrugged. "It's good to be prepared. You never know when you might need them."

"Do you also have an extra pair of boxers in there?"

"Why? Do you want to borrow those too?" He wagged his eyebrows.

Beca laughed. "You're such a weirdo."

"So you tell me about ten times a day."

She hopped onto the table and tugged the socks onto her feet, rolling them down on her ankles several times so that they would fit.

"Thanks," she said as she grabbed a stack of CDs from the box next to him.

For the next three hours, Jesse tried very hard not to stare at Beca's feet. He knew they were only socks. They were probably the least impersonal clothing item that she could borrow from him. Not like a jacket or a shirt or even boxers, as he had earlier jokingly suggested. He knew it wasn't a big deal. But still, Beca's feet were currently wrapped up in his socks. Her little, adorable feet. Feet that he longed to pull onto his lap so that he could rub her aches and pains away. Okay...enough now. His thoughts were straying into creeper-sappy territory. A place that he didn't like to admit that it often went to when it came to Beca.

At the end of their shift, Beca retrieved her shoes from beneath the table and looked at them with such sorrowful resignation that Jesse had to laugh. It was Beca up against four inch heels, and apparently the heels had won.

"I'm sorry," he said when Beca glared at him. "It's just, you look really cute. Like a sad puppy."

"I _will_ punch you," she warned him.

"If you have to, not on the face, please. Bumper will kill me. But I'd prefer that there be no physical violence at all. Come on." He put on his backpack so that it was strapped across his chest instead of his back and crouched down in front of her.

"What are you doing, nerd?"

"Because I am a gentleman, I am offering to carry you, my lady. I thought you might prefer this over bridal style."

He could feel Beca's hesitation and Jesse hoped he hadn't pushed too far. If he'd learned anything about Beca, it was that she didn't like physical touches or personal conversations. She liked keeping everyone at a distance. He suspected that the only reason he'd gotten so far with her was because he was unusually persistent. His sister liked to call him annoying and pushy but he preferred charming and patient.

Finally, after what seemed so long that Jesse's legs were starting to cramp, Beca climbed onto his back. He grinned victoriously as her slender arms wrapped around his neck. He straightened up, sweeping her shoes up into one hand, and locked his arms beneath her knees to keep her in place.

"Wow, I knew you were tiny but man, are you light," he teased.

"Shut up," she muttered.

"What do you weigh? Twenty pounds? Seriously, it's like carrying nothing at all."

He made his way out of the station and started the trek across campus to Beca's dorm, getting quite a few stares along the way. Jesse didn't care, he was on a high. He was carrying Beca, he could feel the warmth of her body pressed flush against his back, her warm breath on his neck and rustling his hair as she rested her chin on her arm.

The air was chilly as they were now in early October but Jesse felt flushed with heat. He felt like singing and the only thing that stopped him from doing so was that he was sure that Beca would climb off his back and walk barefoot to her dorm if he did so.

They reached her dorm and after a few minutes of fumbling, Beca extracts her keycard and uses it to get them in. Jesse is a little startled that Beca hasn't hopped off him yet and it seems like she's allowing him to take her up to her room so he rolls with it.

They take the elevator to the fourth floor and Beca directs him to take a right and he walks to nearly the end of the hall before he reaches her door.

Beca slides off his back and Jesse feels an acute sense of loss as her weight and warmth leaves him.

She opens the door and Jesse can't help peeking inside as he hands Beca her shoes. He spots her computer and mixing equipment immediately and can't help but be impressed. That was some serious equipment right there.

Beca's roommate looks over at them from her desk. Her side of the room was so clean and white and wow, that's a huge TV for a relatively small dorm room.

"Hi," he said, waving to her. "I'm Jesse, Beca's friend."

The girl stares at him unblinkingly, her face disconcertingly blank.

"We work at the radio station together."

The roommate is still unresponsive and he glances at Beca, who is trying very hard not to laugh.

"So yeah, Jesse, Kimmy Jin. Kimmy Jin, Jesse. Are we going to eat or what?" She asks him.

"Yeah," he nods, trying not to appear too happy that it's Beca that's initiating their dinner this time but he knows his smile is stretching across his face anyway.

"Let me put on some shoes." She turns away from him to dig through the floor of her closet.

"Would you like to join us, Kimmy Jin?" He asks.

She turns back to her computer without saying a word, her expression remaining unchanged.

"That's a no then," he surmises.

Beca really is laughing now as she tugs on Jesse's arm and leads him out of the room.

"So, that's your roommate."

"Yup."

"Wow."

"Yup."

"Does she ever talk?" He wonders.

"Occasionally she'll say 'move' or 'stop' but that's pretty much it. She and her Korean friends like to take over the room and play video games."

"Is that what the huge TV is for?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you ever need a place where people will actually speak to you in full sentences, you know where Benji and I live."

He expects Beca to make her usual witty, joking insult to gently dismiss his offer. Instead she simply looks up at him and says "Thanks."

Jesse's heart soars.

They get onto the elevator and it's so crowded that Beca is pressed up right against him and he can smell her shampoo. It smells like strawberries.

He notices that Beca doesn't shy away from close proximity to him anymore and he can't help the feeling of victory that was spreading through him. He was really getting somewhere now. Beca was not only accepting his friendship but she was reciprocating it. Life was good.

X

He's not checking up on her, Brian Mitchell tells himself. He just happens to teach in the same building as Beca's Introduction to Philosophy class and his class just happens to let out at the same time that Beca's class ends. So what if he occasionally makes a detour to the second floor so that he could walk past Beca's classroom? It's not a crime for a father to want to catch a glimpse of his daughter during his busy workday, is it?

During the first month of school, Brian often found himself disappointed to not see his daughter's face amongst the chattering student body making their exit from the Philosophy classroom. He knew that attending Barden wasn't exactly Beca's first choice but he'd thought she would at least make an effort at school. It wasn't like Barden didn't have a good music program. He'd researched it thoroughly and even talked to some of the professors in the music department. If he could only get Beca through her first year of (admittedly) mind numbing GE's, she might find something in this school to pique her interest. That was Brian's hope anyway. But he quickly learned that his stubborn, strong willed daughter had no intentions of _trying_ to take advantage of her free education. Even if that definition of trying meant falling asleep on her desk in a classroom instead of her own bed.

After he made his LA deal with her, Brian was relieved to spot his daughter's almost-as-large-as-her-head headphones among the sea of student bodies on the second floor of MacMillan Hall. Still not exactly ideal but he was satisfied that Beca was physically attending her classes. Since then he'd made the effort to not check up on his daughter, knowing that he could only do it so many times before he gets caught. And there would surely be hell to pay if Beca ever sees him.

But today he feels a strange pull towards Beca. It's been a few weeks since they made their deal and that was the last time Brian had really talked to his daughter. He'd thought that having Beca at Barden would mean that he would finally get to spend some time with her but Beca had gotten good at dodging any and all lunch and dinner invitations, using work, classes, and more recently, her a capella group rehearsals, as excuses. Brian was disappointed but he supposed he shouldn't have expected anything else. It was his own fault that his daughter was the way she was now; this distant, sarcastic, slow to trust teenager. He's had to live with the consequences of his mistakes and shortcomings as a father for the past eight years. But now, confronted almost daily with the image of his beautiful but damaged daughter…it was harder than he thought it would be when he came up with the idea to bring Beca out here.

He makes his way through the crowded hallway, stopping several feet away from the doorway of the Philosophy classroom. He waits a few minutes for the class to let out, expecting Beca to be one of the first to exit the room but surprisingly a few more minutes go by and he doesn't see his daughter among the students rushing out. The crowd thins around Brian somewhat as the students make their way into their rooms or clatter down the stairway to the first floor.

He's already resigned himself to the fact that Beca must have skipped again and is ready to head to her dorm to remind her of their deal when Beca suddenly emerges. Brian has to do a double take to make sure that it really is _his _Beca.

Her large headphones are nowhere in sight and instead of walking alone with her patented scowl on her face, she is listening attentively to a boy with rather large sideburns who is talking animatedly beside her.

"Hey nerd!" Beca's voice floats down the hallway.

She is addressing another boy, who is leaning against the wall opposite her classroom, reading a book. The boy looks up and grins widely at Beca and her companion. He says something and Beca rolls her eyes and punches his arm but she is smiling, her eyes lit up in a way that Brian hasn't seen in a very long time.

He doesn't intend to spy, he really doesn't. But Brian can't seem to drag himself away. He watches as his daughter talks with these two boys, not being able to hear anything of what they're saying from his place down the hall. The boy that was waiting puts his book away in his backpack and throws an arm around Beca and her classmate's shoulders like it's his natural place between them; the three of them make their way down the hallway, in the opposite direction of where Brian is standing. He notices that Beca doesn't shy away from the brunette boy's touch, her head tilted up in his direction, listening to whatever he is saying as they walk off. He watches until they have disappeared around the corner, feeling baffled but also relieved. It seems that his daughter is finally finding her place at Barden, making the friends and memories that will last her a lifetime.

Brian smiles as he thinks that maybe he won't be saying goodbye to her at the end of the year after all, as he's been dreading ever since he made that deal.

But he really needs to keep an eye on that boy.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for all the feedback guys! It really makes my day. And it's nice to know there are still readers out there even though it's been a year since the movie's release.**

**Just a little note on this chapter, I included Dr. Mitchell's POV because 1) this chapter was really short lol and 2) I actually really like his character. I think it's a shame that the scene of Beca and her dad talking at his house was cut short because I feel like the extended version shows us how much Dr. Mitchell loves his daughter and how he regrets leaving her. And that Beca and her dad's distant relationship is not entirely her dad's fault, Beca certainly did her part in alienating her father. I'm not saying that either of them was wrong or right, I just appreciate the complexity of the relationship shown to us in the extended scene. And so this little POV from Beca's dad came about.**

**Also, in chapter 2 I gave Beca and Benji some interaction. It's my personal headcanon that Jesse, Beca, and Benji probably hung out as a group and that Beca and Benji were at least semi-friends behind the scenes. I just feel that the way that Benji ran after Beca at semi-finals was a little too familiar for two people we haven't seen interact with one another. And Beca looked really happy for Benji when he sang at Finals. So yeah, I'm including some Beca/Benji friendship in this fic to fulfill my own headcanon.**

**Anyway, enough on my thoughts, I'm sure no one wants to read this lol. Thank you guys for reading! And reviews are very much appreciated. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Barden's a capella groups get together every year and throw a mixer in mid-October. Aubrey explains in detail how this annual mixer works but Beca's mind zones in and out through it. She catches the gist though. The mixer is a fundraiser and the point of it is to supposedly unite the four Barden a capella groups. As the Bella leaders, Aubrey and Chloe were the only ones to attend the meetings with the other group leaders to organize the event, but Beca imagines that there was much blood shed between Aubrey and Bumper. Especially since tradition dictates that only two groups will perform while the other two manage the ticket booth, food, drinks, and decorations. The Treblemakers, of course, will be one of the groups to perform. Everyone is perfectly aware that no one would likely go if they weren't one of the performers. Even Aubrey can admit that, albeit while choking down vomit. But in a move that makes smoke come out of Aubrey's ears, the second performance slot is given to the BU Harmonics. That leaves the Bellas in charge of practically everything else as no one is counting on the Highnotes to be of any help. Chloe is still glowingly positive as she assigns tasks to each of the Bellas. Beca is in charge of bringing cups and ice, one of the easiest jobs that she was all too happy to take.

What she isn't happy about is that the mixer is a semi-formal event and Beca has been ordered by Aubrey to wear a dress. Beca owns very few dresses in general and she packed none of them when she moved to Barden. Chloe offers to take her shopping but after imagining scenarios where Chloe forcibly joins her in a dressing room and pushes one skimpy dress after another onto her, Beca quickly lies and says she has plans to go shopping with her step-mother of all people.

A week before the event and still dress-less, Beca is not looking forward to the mixer. But to her surprise, Jesse is even less enthusiastic than she is.

"What is wrong with you?" She asks after he drops his fifth CD in fifteen minutes.

"Sorry. Just distracted."

"What's up?" Beca turns to look at him and for the first time notices the bags under his eyes and how pale and drawn his face looks. She frowns.

"We've been having a lot of late night practices for the mixer. And well, Bumper has been pretty hard on me."

Looking at Jesse and how un-Jesse like he was being, with his lack of energy and overall exhausted demeanor, Beca has never wanted to hurt the small Treble leader more.

"Why?"

"He's testing me out," Jesse said, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

"What the hell does that mean?"

He looks at her and then turns back to his stacking. "You're going to think it's stupid."

"Probably," she agreed. "But tell me anyway."

That coaxes a smile out of Jesse and Beca feels something in her stomach twist.

"He's giving me some pretty big solos for our performances so that he can see how much uh, appeal I have to the audience. He says I have the boy-next-door face going for me and he wants to see if I can uh..." Beca can see the blush creeping up his neck. "Melt the panties off of girls like Unicycle. His words. If all goes well I'll probably have a few solos in the competitions."

"That's..." Beca doesn't even know what to say and Jesse's face is completely red. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"I know. But it's Bumper."

"That's why you look like...that." She gestured to him.

"Yeah. Between all the practices and midterms, I haven't even had time to get something to wear. I mean, we have our performance jackets but the rest is up to us."

"We're in the same boat, dude. I still have to buy a _dress_." She makes a disgusted face.

A grin spreads across Jesse's face and Beca groans. "A dress? Beca Mitchell in a dress. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Keep talking and you won't," she warns.

"Hey! You need clothes...I need clothes. Why don't we go together?"

Beca drops the CDs she's holding back into the box and stares at him.

"Come on! It'll be fun. I can borrow Donald's car and we'll go to the mall."

She thinks that this is probably a bad idea but what other option does she have? She doesn't really want to go alone. Or _at all_. But since she has to, going with Jesse isn't a completely horrible option.

"Fine," she sighs.

The grin that Jesse gives her and the extra bounce in his step for the rest of their shift almost makes the prospect of wearing a dress worth it. Almost.

X

"Hey Bec!"

Jesse pops out at her from behind a rack of clothing, looking ridiculous in a pair of sunglasses and a black fedora.

"I pull it off, yeah?" He poses for her. "What do you think?"

Beca bites the inside of her cheek to hold back her smile. He was completely ridiculous.

"I'm shopping with a child," she deadpans.

He takes off the sunglasses and simply grins at her. Beca can't hold back her smile this time.

"Will you put those back and actually start looking for clothes?" She asks.

They had been at the mall for nearly two hours and were not even close to getting what they came for. As soon as they arrived, Jesse had declared himself hungry and so their first stop was the food court where Jesse insisted on walking by every single food stall in order to get the toothpick samples before finally deciding on Chinese food. And then they had walked past a photo booth and Jesse insisted on getting their photos taken. The strip of them in various silly poses was safely tucked in Beca's back pocket. Beca had suggested that they split up and each just buy what they need but Jesse had quickly vetoed that idea. He said he's hopeless when it comes to buying his own clothes and since both his sister and mother are in another state, Beca was the only female in a hundred mile radius that could help him. She had told him that it was pathetic that he needed his mother or sister to shop for him but had given in.

And now here they were, in the Men's department and still getting absolutely nowhere.

She decided it was time to focus Jesse's very short attention span.

"Come on." She tugged on his sleeve. "What do you need?"

"Slacks since it's a semi-formal event and I think Aubrey would literally tear Bumper's head off if we showed up in jeans; and a maroon polo shirt."

Beca nodded and pulled him towards the pants section. They found a selection of black slacks easily enough and yet Jesse just stood there looking at his choices with an adorably confused look on his face.

"What are you waiting for, nerd?"

He turned to her sheepishly. "I don't really know how to do this."

"And I do? I don't exactly shop for men's clothes all the time, or ever."

"I don't know, my Mom and Katie are so good at it I guess I thought shopping is hardwired into a girl's biology or something."

"Well, I'm not hardwired like most girls. Just grab a couple in your size and we'll find a polo so you can try them on together."

"See? You do know how to do this." He grinned at her over his shoulder as he rifled through the pants, looking for his size. Beca rolled her eyes. He grabbed two pairs of pants and they moved onto the polos.

She showed him a couple of maroon polos but he shook his head.

"Those aren't the right shade. It has to match our jacket, Bec."

"I'll make your face match your jacket if you don't pick one already," she threatened.

"You're grumpy when you shop," he observed. "Does somebody need some fro-yo? We can go back to the food court..."

"Jesse."

"Okay, okay. Here." He grabbed a shirt from one of the racks. "I think this looks about right."

They made their way to the dressing room and when Beca stopped outside, intending to wait for him, he turned and looked at her expectantly.

"What? I'm not going inside a dressing room with you, Swanson."

"You could wait outside so that I can show you how it looks," he said, giving her the puppy dog face.

It really wasn't fair how well he could pull off that face. Or the fact that it made something tighten in her chest everytime he did.

"Fine."

She followed him in and took her spot against the wall opposite of the stall he chose.

"Hey, sorry if I'm being annoying," he said from inside the stall. "Benji told me not to have that third cup of coffee this morning. I probably should have listened."

Beca smiled. "It's fine. Shopping's just not my thing."

The door opened and there he was, standing in front of her looking far better in those clothes than anyone had a right to. "What do you think?" He shoved his hands into the pocket of the slacks and tugged, bringing the pants down half an inch. "It's a little loose but I could wear a belt."

Beca chuckled a little as she looked at the way he had buttoned his shirt all the way up to his neck. He was such a dork.

"Hold on. Just..." She stepped forward and unbuttoned three of the buttons, opening the shirt up to his collar. "There. You look a tiny bit less like a nerd."

She looked up and for the first time noticed how close they were, her face only a few inches away from his, her hands still resting on his chest. She could smell his cologne or aftershave, a sweet musky scent that was so intoxicating she found herself wanting to lean in even closer to get a better whiff. Jesse's eyes were serious as he looked down at her, all traces of laughter and teasing gone.

Beca backed away quickly, her back hitting the wall roughly. She cleared her throat and looked away.

"So, um, the pants? Are they okay?" Jesse asked and she could hear the forced normalcy in his tone. Beca brought her eyes back to him just as he turned to look in the mirror. The pants fit him really well, she couldn't help thinking as her eyes strayed down to his backside. Really really well. Stacie's squishing hand gesture came to Beca's mind unbidden.

Her eyes met Jesse's in the mirror and by the smirk on his face, she knew that she was caught. She felt her face begin to heat up.

"Alright, I'm getting these pants," he said, quickly shutting the door.

"You're still a dork," she called.

"A dork that you were totally checking out," he fired back.

"Whatever. I'm going back outside."

Beca started for the exit but stopped when she heard an all too familiar voice.

"I think this turquoise blue is totally your color but you should try the navy one as well. And your butt will look totally good in these jeans..."

Chloe. It was Chloe. And it sounded like she was coming into the dressing room.

Beca felt a panic take over her body. She couldn't let Chloe see her here in a mall with Jesse. She'd never live it down.

"Jesse!" She hissed, banging her palm on the door. "Open up!"

"Hold on, Bec. I'm not dressed yet."

"Just open it right now!"

The door opened. "What's going-"

Beca pushed him back into the stall, quickly closing and locking the door behind her. And not a moment too soon as Chloe's voice got louder as she entered the dressing room.

"Okay, Tom, try those on and I'll wait out here. You have to show me every outfit."

"You could come in with me," Tom suggested. "Help me put these on."

Chloe giggled. "No way. Not after last time!" She half-whispered.

"Exactly like last time..."

"Stop it, Tom! Just try the clothes on. If you're a good boy I'll take you to Victoria's Secret and you can pick out something for me to wear tonight..."

"Deal."

The sound of kissing permeated the room and Beca quietly groaned. They were going to be stuck here forever.

Jesse tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around in the very small space to face him.

"What is going on?" He whispered.

"That's Chloe," she whispered back.

"So?"

"She can't see me here and she can't see us together."

His brow wrinkled.

"We'll just hide here until they leave."

"Seriously?" She could tell that he didn't like this one bit and for the first time Beca noticed that he was shirtless.

Jesse was standing in front of her half naked and wow, that was what he was hiding beneath his shirts? His abs were nicely toned, not as defined as Luke's but Beca couldn't help but think that she much preferred Jesse's more natural definition. And the light smattering of hair all across his chest...Why did she suddenly feel like the room temperature had been raised ten degrees?

"Beca?" He asked.

"Look, I'll explain later," she whispered. "And can you put a shirt on?"

"I told you I wasn't dressed!"

"Shh!"

Jesse put on his own shirt and Beca took a seat on the bench, trying not to mourn the loss of the view of his bare chest. What was wrong with her? This was _Jesse_. Her friend. Her best friend, really. She couldn't think about him this way.

Jesse sat down beside her, nudging her slightly so that he'd have more space.

"Should I be offended that you're going to such great lengths to hide me from Chloe?" He asked, still in a whisper.

"I'm not hiding you. I'm hiding me."

"Okay..."

"She'll overreact and freak out if she sees me in a mall."

"Then why did you say she can't see _us_?"

She was about to explain Aubrey's insane 'No Trebles' rule when she realized how it would sound. Jesse might get the impression that she wanted to hide him from Chloe because this was a date and dating Trebles wasn't allowed. This was definitely not a date. Even though they had lunch together, she helped him pick out his clothes, saw him half naked, and was now sitting next to him in a tiny dressing room stall. Nope, not a date at all.

"Chloe wanted to take me shopping and I said I was going with my step-mother," she explained. "You're not my step-mother."

They could hear Chloe instructing Mark to turn around, then the distinct of sound of butt slapping and giggling.

"You think they'll be here awhile?" Jesse asked.

"Just be glad they're not having sex. I'm pretty sure this is the guy I saw her in the shower with."

"Wait, what?"

"Shh..."

"You are so explaining that later."

"Definitely the turquoise with these jeans," Chloe said.

"I think they're leaving," Beca whispered.

They waited in silence for a minute, until they could hear the clacking of Chloe's heels as she left the dressing room with her male companion.

Beca got up and slowly opened the door, cautiously poking her head out to make sure that Chloe was really gone. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the room was empty.

She and Jesse exited the stall, the clothes slung over one of Jesse's arms.

"So, Bec, question."

"What?"

"You do realize that you could have hidden in any one of these empty stalls, right?" He gestured to the long line of indeed very empty stalls before them.

Beca's eyes widened and she could feel a blush rising up her neck. Jesse started to laugh. The bastard was actually laughing at her. She slapped his arm.

"I panicked, alright? Besides, if I didn't tell you what was going on, you would have come out and given me away."

Jesse was still grinning at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Can we get out of here now?"

"Sure. Let's go look for your dress."

Beca groaned.

X

Beca looked at the racks of dresses in front of her and felt like she was in her own personal rung of hell. It didn't help that Jesse was chuckling quietly beside her, like Satan himself taking pleasure from her pain. She glared at him.

"Sorry." He tried to screw his face into a serious expression and failed miserably, his wide grin bringing his dimples out in full display. "It's just...your face. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so lost."

"You're not helping," she grumbled.

"I know, I'm sorry. Pick your dress. I'll behave, I swear." He made a crossing motion over his heart.

Beca bypassed the pink dresses and any dresses with color, sequins, and tulle, stopping in front of a rack of black dresses.

"Ah yes, black. I should have guessed," Jesse said. "Hey, you sure you're in the right section?" He grabbed a dress and held it up in front of her. "This would eat you whole. Maybe we should go to the children's section?"

Beca grabbed the dress from him. "This is an extra-large, you doof. I'm a small or an extra-small."

Jesse grinned stupidly. "That's adorable."

"Shut up."

She searched through the dresses until she finally found one that she might actually be able to wear. It was a little short and tight but it was plain and simple and far better than the other options that she could see.

"I'm going to try this on," she told Jesse. He bobbed his head and obediently followed her to the dressing room.

"Where are you going?" She asked when he moved to follow her in.

"I can wait outside the stall like you did for me."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Come on Bec, don't you want a second opinion?"

"You're such a girl."

"I'm all man, darling," he said, following her into the dressing room. "And I am secure enough in my masculinity to walk into places like these."

"Stay here," she instructed, walking into a stall and closing the door behind her.

"Hey, you're the one that invaded my stall!"

Beca quickly undressed, trying to ignore the fact that Jesse was standing just five feet away from her and singing 'Let's Stay Together' to himself. She'd never admit it to him but she loved his voice. He often sang along to the music at the station and Beca had to continually keep herself from melting into a puddle on the floor. Bumper deserved to be knocked over the head if he didn't give Jesse any solos for the competitions. Jesse's voice had the tone and quality that was made for the stage and for radio.

She pulled on the dress and tried to zip it up but quickly discovered that she couldn't reach around herself to get the zipper up all the way. After a minute of futilely trying to bend her arms and back in impossible ways, she sighed in resignation and opened the stall door, carefully holding the dress to her chest.

"Hey, can you zip me up?" She asked, turning her back to him.

"See? I knew you'd need me," he said triumphantly.

"Just hurry up so we can get out of here."

Jesse stepped forward to tug up her zipper. His fingers lightly brushed her bare skin, leaving her tingling with an electric warmth. Her eyes met his in the mirror. With one hand he moved her hair over her shoulder so that he could bring the zipper all the way up. Beca felt like she couldn't breathe.

"All done," he said, his voice low.

She swallowed herd, forcing her gaze away from his.

"Bec, that dress is...wow."

The dress wasn't as short as she had feared. It fell to a couple of inches above her knee and hugged her body tightly, the strapless top emphasizing the curve of her breasts but not pushing them out obscenely. Beca could picture herself rocking this dress with boots and a leather jacket. Dressy but with enough of her own style to annoy Aubrey. Beca found herself smiling at the thought.

"So I take it you like the dress?" Jesse breathed.

Beca started as she looked up at the mirror and realized how close Jesse was behind her, his body leaning into the doorway of the stall, his breath warm on the back of her neck. She felt her heart stop as her eyes locked into his in the mirror.

"Beca..." He started to say, his voice deeper and more serious than she's ever heard it.

"Sir, you can't be in here."

Jesse turned abruptly and Beca leaned out of the stall to see a sales attendant staring down at them disapprovingly.

"Sorry," Jesse said. "I was just, uh...helping out my friend."

"You'll have to wait outside, sir. Male companions aren't allowed in the dressing room."

Jesse nodded and picked up his shopping bag.

"I'll be outside," he said to her.

Beca closed the stall door and leaned heavily against it.

She didn't know what almost happened there but she knew that whatever it was would have been crossing the boundaries of friendship that she had so carefully drawn between her and Jesse. Beca wasn't blind. She knew that with just one signal from her, Jesse would jump at the opportunity to turn their friendship into something more. But she also knew that Jesse would never push her for something that he wasn't sure she wanted as well. And Beca knew that he likely remembered his drunken aca-children spiel because he'd been careful not to say anything along the lines of 'lovers' or 'children' or 'inevitable' in relation to the two of them since then.

She kept people at a distance for a reason, never allowing herself to get close to anyone and most importantly, not allowing anyone to get close to her. Jesse, with all of his persistence and goofiness and genuine kindness, was getting much too close, far too fast. And the worst part was, a part of her didn't care.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you guys for all the reviews! Keep them coming, I love hearing what you think.**

**Passerby: I didn't mean to imply in chapter 2 that Stacie was into Jesse. I just meant to portray Stacie as a huge flirt and Jesse just happened to be the only male sitting at the table. And it made Beca a little jealous so that's always a plus. :) Also, I don't think Stacie's behavior at the riff-off show any particular feelings towards Jesse, whether she'd be into him or not. She dissed him because he cut off her song. It was a competition, tensions were high, so of course everyone would be more competitive with each other than usual. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Passerby - Yes, this is a completely different mixer from the SBT one in the movie. As you will see if you read further on. :)**

**Chapter Five**

During one of Jesse's bi-weekly family Skype calls, his little sister drops a bomb on him. It was perhaps the four words that no older brother ever wanted to hear: "I have a date."

It made Jesse's head spin. Katie, his baby sister, was going on a _date_, with a guy who was a year level ahead of her. And who was on the soccer team. She was going on a date with a jock.

Jesse wasn't exactly popular in high school but he wasn't unpopular either. He did the nerdiest things like drama club, choir, and student council but Jesse was personable and he could get along with just about anybody. It didn't hurt that his brother, Peter, was the school's football quarterback in his day and so he had some clout with the football team as Peter Swanson's little brother. And then in his sophomore year, Jesse had started tutoring Dave Collins, who would become the school's star linebacker, in Math. Dave's friendship, coupled with Peter's reputation, ensured that Jesse had the utmost protection within his high school's tricky social hierarchy. Unlike many other 'nerds', who were not so lucky to escape high school unscathed, Jesse harbored no ill will towards jocks. But that didn't mean he wanted his sister dating one.

If Jesse was honest with himself though, that really wasn't the problem. It was that he wouldn't be around to size up this date. He wouldn't be there to watch in amusement as Katie ran around her room panicking about what to wear and how to do her make-up. He wouldn't be there to assure her that she looks beautiful right before she leaves to meet her date. He wouldn't be there to sit in the living room with his dad watching a replay of last night's baseball game as they not so subtly waited up for Katie to get home. He wouldn't get to sneak into her bedroom with Oreos and milk to pry details out of her about how her date went. Jesse was missing this big milestone in his sister's life. For the first time since coming to Barden, Jesse felt completely and utterly homesick.

He pushed a couple of CDs onto a shelf with more force than he'd usually use.

"Hey, what's up, nerd?"

Jesse turned to see Beca standing near the desk, watching him in concern.

"What's got your panties in a twist?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

He grabbed another stack of CDs but suddenly Beca was there, gently prying the CDs out of his hand. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist and it was the electric tingles stemming from that point of contact and climbing up his arm that made him look at her.

"Jesse," she said softly. "Talk to me."

He sighed and sat down on the desk. Beca climbed up beside him, shoulder to shoulder (or shoulder to bicep in her case), her small thigh pressed against his. Even in the worst of his moods, Jesse couldn't help the small thrill that ran through him at the copious amount of Beca-contact he was receiving. He did his best to suppress it though.

"My sister is going on a date," he said.

"Okay." Beca looks confused. "Unless she's twelve or something, I don't see the problem."

"She's sixteen," he said dismally. "Barely! She just turned sixteen three months ago."

Beca gently nudges his shoulder. "It's kind of sweet how you're going into protective older brother mode but realistically, you had to know this was bound to happen."

He blew out a breath. "Yeah. It just kills me that I'm not there, you know? I don't know, I'm just..."

"Missing home?" Beca finished.

"Yeah. Do you?" He asked curiously. "Miss home, I mean."

Her lips pursed. "Nothing to miss," she said.

"What about your mom? Your friends?"

Beca hopped off the desk and Jesse's stomach sank, knowing that he had pushed too far. He was about to apologize when Luke came in, fresh off his longer than half an hour lunch break. Jesse doesn't miss how Beca follows Luke to the door of the booth and hands him a USB disk, something that Jesse's noticed she's been doing once or twice a week for the past few weeks. He's been burning to know what's in those USBs but hasn't gotten up the courage to ask. Somehow he doesn't think now would be a good time.

He half-heartedly goes back to stacking CDs when Beca grabs the records cart after her little chat with Luke, noticeably moving across the room from Jesse.

_Three steps forward, four steps back_, he thought.

X

When Beca walks into the courtyard where the a capella mixer is being held, she can't help but be impressed at the job that Aubrey and the other girls have done. The stage is large and certainly the main focal point but Beca can see the nicely decorated buffet table to the side, several feet beyond the stage there were several tall tables for the guests to eat and mingle at, decorated with candles and flowers, and fairy lights wrapped around the courtyard.

She spots Aubrey and Chloe near the stage and heads over to them.

"Beca!" Chloe smiles when she spots her. "You look great."

"Thanks."

Aubrey eyes her up and down, the disapproval evident on her face. "Boots, Beca? I told you this was a semi-formal event."

"Hey, I'm wearing a dress," Beca defended. "And these boots have a heel." It was true, they were the dressiest boots that Beca had.

"That's right. Beca put in the effort and she looks really nice," Chloe tried to mediate.

"You could have gone easy on the eyeliner for one night," Aubrey snapped.

"You look really nice too, Aubrey," Beca said extra sweetly, painting a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Whatever. Just go help Fat Amy and Cynthia Rose with the tickets."

Beca saluted her and made her way to the ticket table at the entrance.

"Hey Girl!" Cynthia Rose greeted her, letting out a low whistle. "You're looking fine!"

"Not bad, not bad." Fat Amy looked her up and down and nodded in approval. "Got a flat butt there. But you make up for it with the unusually large ta-tas."

Fat Amy made a honking motion towards Beca's boobs and she playfully slapped the Australian's hands away.

"I think Beca has a nice butt," Cynthia Rose said, leaning her chair back on its hind legs so that she could peer at Beca from around Fat Amy. "Jesse would probably agree."

Beca groaned and flopped down onto the chair beside Fat Amy. "Not you too, CR."

"We just call it like we see it," Cynthia Rose replied. "And anyone can see that boy has a major ton-"

"Don't say that word!" She warned.

Fat Amy chuckled and whipped her phone out of her cleavage. "ETA on the Trebles: forty minutes."

"Who are you texting?" Beca asked curiously. She was a little relieved to know that Jesse would be arriving relatively soon. If she had to suffer through this mixer, she didn't want to suffer alone.

"Um...ahh..." Fat Amy stuttered, her voice becoming alarmingly high pitched.

Cynthia Rose shook her head. "How many times have I told you to just stay away from Bumper?"

"Who said I was texting Bumper?" Fat Amy's eyes widened. "Bumper who? I don't know a Bumper. Yeah..."

Even Beca had to roll her eyes. Subtle, Amy was not.

"Fat Amy, I'll kill you myself if Aubrey doesn't do it," Cynthia Rose said. "Besides, I don't think the Trebles will be here until its time for them to perform. Chloe said they always like to make a big entrance. Any idea what they're going to sing, Beca?"

"How should I know?" She asked.

"Jesse didn't tell you?"

"No. Just that Bumper is putting him through some stupid initiation test tonight to see whether or not he deserves to get solos in the competitions."

"Ah. The panty wetter test." Fat Amy nodded.

Beca almost choked on the bottle of water she had been taking a sip out of. "What?"

"Chloe told us about it," Cynthia Rose explained. "Pretty much all girls and aca groupies come to this mixer so the Trebles like to test out a new member's sex appeal by the reaction they can get out of the girls here."

"Watch out, flat butt. Prepare to see your man get his grind on tonight." Fat Amy made grinding motions in her chair.

The thought of Jesse grinding or doing whatever else on stage was so ridiculous that Beca had to laugh. "Jesse? Doing that?" She gestured to Amy, who was now practically humping her chair. "No way."

Cynthia Rose was laughing at Fat Amy's antics but she met Beca's eyes. "You know him better than we do, Mitchell. But nice looking boys and girls are always the freakiest, just sayin'."

"Ain't that the truth," Fat Amy said, slumping back down onto her chair. "CR and I have a bet going on that sweet little Jessica is more of a firecracker in bed than Stacie. Wanna join in?"

"Dude no!" Beca protested, cringing away from the mental picture that offered. "How would you even test that anyway?"

"Hey, I'd be happy to..." Cynthia Rose started to say.

"Maybe we should put Beca in," Fat Amy interrupted, her eyes lighting up. "We can ask Jesse to rate our dear Beca's prowess in bed."

"No! Oh my god, you guys have to stop."

Both Fat Amy and Cynthia Rose were grinning at her in a way that made Beca want to knock their heads together. But she was stopped from acting out any of her violent tendencies by a large group of girls approaching their table.

Cynthia Rose stood up and addressed the crowd. "Alright ladies, if you have tickets we need to see them and stamp your hands. If you don't have tickets you can buy them for $15. Please form two lines."

"She's surprisingly hot when she takes charge," Fat Amy said under her breath to Beca.

Beca raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hey, I don't swing that way but I can appreciate!"

Beca shook her head and started ripping up tickets and stamping people's hands. These girls were so crazy and always made half of her wonder how she could put up with them and the other half think what she would do without them. Despite their constant and almost non-stop ribbing about Jesse, all of the girls were endlessly entertaining.

For the next hour and a half Beca goes through the motions of ripping up tickets and stamping hands. Cynthia Rose and Fat Amy were right, the mixer attendees were overwhelmingly women, with a few guys scattered here and there.

Finally, at half past eight, Ashley comes over to tell them that they can close the booth as they won't be letting any more people in once the performances start.

Beca sees the BU Harmonics gathered near the side of the stage, gearing up for their performance but no sign of the Treblemakers anywhere. In one corner of the courtyard she could see Aubrey and Chloe having a heated discussion with the club moderators. Beca turned away, not wanting to go anywhere near there. Aubrey looked like she was on the warpath.

She had just decided to get some food from the buffet table when she spots some familiar sideburns.

"Benji!" She called.

He turned to her and smiled widely.

"Hi, Beca," he greets. "You look nice."

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself," she said, eyeing his bright red bow tie warily, the color standing out against the gray of his button up shirt beneath his black suit jacket. At least he wasn't wearing his cape. "How did you sneak in?"

"Amy took my ticket. I didn't want to bother you because you looked busy."

Beca punched his shoulder lightly. "Never too busy for you, dude. Have you seen Jesse?"

"No. He left for the Treble house this morning for some last minute practice."

"Hey, Beca!" Chloe, coming out of nowhere, is suddenly beside her, the bubbly redhead's arm wrapped around her own, their sides pressed together. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Benji. He's Jesse's roommate. Benji, Chloe," Beca introduced.

"Hi Benji!" Chloe chirped, unwrapping herself from Beca to stand far too close to the rather overwhelmed looking boy, his eyesight suddenly bombarded with Chloe's cleavage in her low cut dress. "You're a cutie! But you know what? I think you'd look even better without this..."

Poor Benji can only stand there as Chloe, all in his personal space, unties his bowtie and strips it off his neck. Beca puts a hand to her mouth and stifles her laughter.

"There you go, sweetie." Chloe pats his chest and steps away. "Much better."

"Th-thanks," Benji stutters, looking dazed.

Justin takes the stage to make a long spiel about what this mixer is all about. A fund raising event intended to promote harmony between the various a capella groups...yada yada yada. Beca finds her mind wandering, really wishing that they were allowed to serve alcoholic beverages at this thing.

Finally, Justin introduces the BU Harmonics and the group primly walks up the stage, forming two neat and orderly rows.

Chloe lets out a little squeal and grabs one each of Beca's and Benji's arms, pulling them to her side. "The show's starting."

Beca tries to catch Benji's eye, wanting to silently apologize for her friend's brashness but Benji looks blissfully happy.

"Aubrey's been steaming from the nose all week because Bumper wouldn't let her watch one of their rehearsals or even give her their set list," Chloe said. "Do you know what they have up their sleeve, Beca?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that like I'm some sort of inside source?" She wonders.

Chloe looks at her. "Because of Jesse. Duh."

"I do not have an inside track on the Trebles because of Jesse." Beca frowned. "Ask Benji. They live together!"

Chloe turned to Benji expectantly.

"I-I don't know. Jesse's not allowed to talk about his set lists to anyone outside of the Trebles."

Chloe wrapped one arm around Benji's shoulders, her left hand trailing down his chest. "Maybe he hasn't said anything but you must notice some things...songs that he sings under his breath, music that he's been listening to lately..."

Benji looked like he was about to hyperventilate at Chloe's proximity and touch. Beca stepped in, taking Chloe by the shoulders and pulling her away from the boy.

"Give the guy a break, Chlo. He doesn't know anything. And what does it even matter at this point? They're going to perform in like ten minutes."

Chloe pouted slightly. "I guess you're right."

"Uh...R&B," Benji said. "Jesse's been listening to a lot of R&B. I thought it was strange because he doesn't listen to that type of music usually."

Chloe sighed. "Probably Sisqo. Bumper has a strange obsession with Sisqo."

"Obsession how?" Beca asked in amusement. "Didn't the guy have like one song?"

Chloe shrugged and directed their attention to the stage where the BU Harmonics were currently performing their rendition of _Vogue_, complete with the classic dance moves.

"They really don't sing anything but Madonna, do they?" Beca commented.

"It's kind of sad because they'd actually be pretty good if they would just get some new material," Chloe replied.

Beca looked at the older girl in disbelief but Chloe seemed oblivious to the irony of her own statement. The performance ended and the crowd applauded as Justin took the stage again, this time to introduce the Treblemakers. Beca scanned the area around the stage, she still couldn't see Jesse or any of the other guys anywhere.

"Are they even here yet?" Chloe asked nervously.

"Ladies and a few gentlemen," Justin boomed. "I present to you the four time reigning ICCA champions...the Barden University Treblemakers!"

The screams and applause that erupted around them was deafening and Beca winced. The lights on the stage dimmed and then went off completely, plunging them into darkness except for Aubrey's twinkling fairy lights. The screams and cheers died off as a hushed anticipation fell over the crowd.

When the lights came on again there were ten maroon jacket clad figures in a triangle formation on the stage, Bumper in the lead. Beca spotted Jesse immediately, he was on the right side of the triangle, towards the back.

"_Oh my gosh..." _Bumper sang and screams erupted. "_I did it again so I'm gonna..._"

The rest of the Trebles started moving behind Bumper, complementing his vocals with beats and harmonies. The aca groupies had run to the front of the stage, creating a mosh pit type situation like this was an actual concert.

Beca turned to Chloe and gave her a 'what the fuck?' look. Chloe gave her a grim smile. Yes, this was indeed their competition.

"_So baby let me love you down...there's so many ways to love ya."_

Beca watched stunned as Bumper effortlessly pulled off Usher. Humongous douchebag he may be, but the boy had pipes. And this was one sick arrangement of the song. She glanced over to her left and saw Aubrey standing alone near the entrance to the courtyard with her arms crossed in front of her chest. The blonde looked faintly nauseated.

Beca was about to get Chloe's attention when the song transitioned and Jesse was suddenly front and center.

"_Girl, I want you to know, I can't get you out of my head...my head my head my head. Girl, I want you to know, I don't even know what you did..."_

Benji was right, the Trebles set seemed to consist of R&B top forty hits. Beca had never imagined Jesse to be the type to listen to or sing Trey Songz but damn if he wasn't pulling it off right at this moment.

She couldn't help but gape as she watched Jesse move around the stage with such grace and confidence. Beca had known all along that Jesse could sing but what he was doing up there was not merely singing, he was performing. The nerdy, hyper guy she talked to on a daily basis was suddenly transformed into a smooth, confident man that knew how to carry his body on that stage.

If this is what the Trebles performances are going to be like for the competitions then the Bellas are done for. They don't stand a chance against this with Aubrey's snoozefest "classic" arrangements.

Donald took the rap verses and he was just as good as Beca remembered from the videos she watched. She was suddenly glad that the Bellas weren't performing tonight. There was no way that she wanted to follow this act.

"_Girl, I want you to know I can't get you out of my head..._"

Jesse spots her in the audience and a huge grin takes over his face as he points and starts singing right to her.

"_Girl, I want you to know. I don't even know what you did...you did you did you did...But I like it."_

Jesse winked at her and Beca could feel a flush creeping up her neck as she realized the implications of the lyrics that he was singing.

It was ridiculous though. Jesse was just being his usual brash, flirty self. It's not like he picked the song...did he?

Before Beca could contemplate it further the song transitioned again, the beats and harmonies slowing down considerably. Jesse is thrust completely front and center as all of the Trebles moved towards the back of the stage.

"_Splash! Baby girl, that's your waterfall. Feel it coming down on me, so crazy. Yeah..._"

Jesse's eyes were still locked on hers as he stripped off his suede jacket, tossing it carelessly to the side of the stage. The girls in the front were going insane but Beca couldn't see or hear anything but Jesse in front of her, his voice making goosebumps rise on her skin, his body moving in ridiculously sexy ways.

"_Watch me stroke, left stroke, right stroke, back stroke..._"

Beca was aware that all of the Trebles were executing the dance moves but she was solely focused on Jesse in the front as he grinded his hips in those freaking pants that she helped pick out.

"_Submerged inside your world. So deep inside you girl. Beautiful place to be, so soaking wet. Girl, it's made for me...I'm about to dive in..."_

Unicycle has joined Jesse in the front and the two of them simultaneously rip open their shirts (what the actual fuck?), amidst the crazy screaming from all of the girls in the place. Beneath the maroon button down polos, Jesse and Unicycle are wearing black wifebeaters that cling to every groove and muscle of their chests very nicely. Beca's mind is boggled, and her breathing is a little heavy, as she watches Jesse execute the grinding hip movements. Every note that he's singing, every thrust of his hips screams sex. And his dark eyes never leave hers.

He'd decided to forego the belt that he said he'd wear and his pants (that she helped pick out!) were riding low on his hips, the edge of his black boxers peeking out. And no, she wasn't hyperventilating, it was just very hard to breathe in this place, with so many screaming girls packed into an open courtyard (shut up). Beca's eyes traveled up Jesse's body, appreciating his toned stomach, the bulge of his muscles flexing beneath the sleeve of his shirt as he ran his hand through his hair. And seriously, who taught the boy to dance this way?

"_Baby girl, hold your breath. We about to get so wet. Put me to the test girl when I dive..."_

Finally the song reached its end. The boys bowed and cockily took in all of the screams and cheers of the girls, almost all of the audience now gathered in front of the stage, leaving Aubrey's carefully placed tables abandoned and empty.

"Fuck," Fat Amy said.

Beca started and looked around. She hadn't even noticed that the rest of the Bellas had gathered around her, Chloe and Benji.

"Wow," Ashley breathed.

"I'm so horny," Stacie moaned.

"Damn, Beca. Did you see your man?" Cynthia Rose said from behind her.

"There is not a dry set of panties in this place," Chloe said, fanning herself.

Beca watched as the boys were surrounded by girls as soon as they stepped off the stage. Jesse, especially, seemed to have a large group of girls scrambling for an autograph and a picture. And seriously? Beca had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"Ugh, I've never hated Aubrey's stupid rule more," Stacie grumbled. "Those boys are so getting laid tonight. The hunter wants in on the action!"

Beca glowered at a blonde girl feeling up Jesse's bicep, feeling like she might pull an Aubrey at the thought of Jesse going home with any one (or more) of those girls tonight.

"Ladies!" Aubrey came stomping over, looking as red as a lobster. "Don't worry. The Trebles won't be allowed to sing anything quite so...sexual in the competitions. There are rules against that type of thing. Rules that I expected Bumper to adhere to tonight..." She glared in the direction of the boys. "But no matter. Rehearsal at nine am sharp tomorrow."

She stalked off, presumably in search of Bumper to give him a stern talking to. Not that he'll care.

"Ugh! If I can't have a Treble, I'm going to go find a frat guy," Stacie said. "The hunter's going crazy."

"Aren't you going to help us clean up?" Jessica called after her retreating back. "And she's gone."

Beca recognizes that people are now spread out across the courtyard, mingling and having a good time. But all she can focus on is Jesse, still talking to a bunch of girls who are practically drooling over him. Her hands clench into fists at her sides.

"Are you just going to stand here and glare or are you going to do something about it?" Chloe said into her ear.

"What?"

"Come on, Beca. You can't tell me that..." She gestured to Jesse and his aca-groupies. "Doesn't bother you."

"Whatever." Beca tried to brush Chloe off. "He can do whatever he wants."

Chloe smiled. "Hey Benji," she said. "Why don't you and Beca go congratulate Jesse on a job well done?"

Benji nodded eagerly and Beca had no choice but to follow him as Chloe literally pushed her in Jesse's direction.

Her ears were assaulted by giggling as they neared Jesse and Beca rolled her eyes at the desperation seeping out of the girls in wave. Whatever Jesse was saying, she knows he's not _that_ funny.

Jesse spotted them coming over and his face lit up. He excused himself from the girls, who looked reluctant to let him go, and made his way over to them.

"Hey!" He exchanged one of those manly half-handshake, half-hugs with Benji and grinned widely at Beca.

"You were great, Jesse," Benji said, practically bouncing on his toes with excitement. "Really really great."

"Thanks man! What did you think?" He asked her.

Beca shrugged nonchalantly. "Not bad. You ripped your shirt."

"Yeah," Jesse laughed, looking down at his shirt that was hanging open, some of the buttons dangling loosely and some of them missing completely. "Unicycle's idea. I don't know why I listened, I have no idea how to sew."

"Don't look at me," Beca said. "I'm not your mother."

"I can sew it for you," Benji volunteered. "I sew my capes all the time."

"Thanks man. See? Problem solved."

Beca nodded, a forced smile on her face. She shoved her hands into her jacket pocket. Jesse gave her an odd look.

"You alright, Bec?" He asked.

"Yeah, fine."

"There's a party back at the Treble house, you guys should come!"

"Really?" Benji asked, his lighting up in excitement. "Will we be allowed?"

"Yeah. Most people here are going. Bec?"

"I have to stay here. You know, help with the clean up."

"Come by after," Jesse urged. "Bring all the Bellas. It'll be fun."

He turned the damned puppy dog eyes on her and that face, along with his still open shirt, was threatening to break Beca's resolve.

She shrugged. "Maybe."

Jesse grinned. "I'll take it."

"Yo Jesse!" Donald yelled from near the entrance. "You coming?"

Jesse waved a hand in acknowledgement. "Come on Benji. I'll see you later," he told her confidently.

Benji gave her a wave goodbye as they turned to walk towards the Trebles. She watched as a girl immediately latched herself onto Jesse's side like a goddamn leech and felt an odd twist in her stomach.

Beca felt very tired suddenly and all she wanted was to go home. She didn't think she could be around Jesse anymore tonight.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Songs used: OMG by Usher; Out Of My Head by Trey Songz; Dive In by Trey Songz**

**Your reviews make my day. Keep them coming please! :D**

**Question for you guys, are there any preferences for any side ships? I don't plan to feature any other ships prominently but I'd like to throw in any background development where I can. I'd like to keep it canon as much as possible so if you know of any dvd extras that point to Donald/Stacie, Donald/Aubrey, Donald/Lily or any other pairing, please point them out. Or if you just have a preference, even if it's not wholly based on canon, I'd love to hear why you love this pair.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"So I'm an Art major and I know I know, people always ask me what I'm going to do with it and my parents are still holding out hope that I'll wake up and want to be a doctor or something but Art is my passion, you know?"

Jesse nodded his head, trying to pretend like he was listening when he kept looking over the blonde girl's head to see if Beca had walked through the door yet. Some of the Bellas had already arrived. He could see Fat Amy talking to Bumper near the beer pong table, Cynthia Rose was dancing with two other Bella girls that Jesse didn't know the names of, and Chloe was making out on the couch with a guy that Jesse sincerely hoped was the same dude that she was in the mall dressing room with. But no Beca in sight.

He swallowed his disappointment with the last of his beer.

The girl - Amber? Amanda? - was still chattering away next to him but he couldn't even pretend to pay attention anymore.

"I'm going to get another beer," he said to her. "Do you want another?"

"Yeah, sure," she smiled and stroked his arm. "You're so sweet."

Jesse disentangled himself from her and walked towards the kitchen. After refilling his beer he headed out through the back so that he could circle the house without passing through the front room. He knew that it was rude but he figured that Amanda or Anna or whatever her name was could easily find someone else inside to listen to her rant about her intense passion for Art.

The adrenaline from performing was now wearing off and Jesse felt tired and sluggish, with a bad headache already coming on. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Really, he hadn't gotten much sleep for the past week because of rehearsals and papers that were due. It was all catching up to him now.

"Hey, Jesse. Leaving already?"

Jesse turned to see Donald sitting on the steps of the porch.

"Yeah. I'm pretty tired. Can you tell Benji I bailed early?"

"Dude, after that performance, any girl in there would happily jump you but you're going home alone?"

Jesse shrugged. "I'm not the one sitting outside and drinking alone," he pointed out.

Donald held up his cup. "Touché, man. But I'm just taking a break, getting some air. You're giving up completely. This doesn't have anything to do with a certain Bella that's missing tonight?"

Jesse stared him.

Donald chuckled. "I know. Donald sees all and knows all." He patted the empty space next to him. "Come sit by me, young Treble."

Jesse had to shake his head in disbelief at Donald's nerd speak but sat down anyway.

"So you've got it pretty bad for that new alt Bella, huh?"

"Her name is Beca," Jesse said.

"Beca. Huh." Donald nodded. "Alright, let me give you a piece of advice. Chasing after her like a puppy isn't going to do you any good. A girl like that, you have to let her come to you."

"How?"

"By being cool, man. Stop getting in her face so much. Make her think you're not available."

"Make her think I'm dating someone?" Jesse asked in confusion.

"No. Just let her see that other girls are interested and you might be interested as well."

"How do I do that?"

"You could go back inside, make out with a girl and let the other Bellas see you," Donald suggested.

Jesse thought about that and a part inside of him recoiled. "Thanks for the advice, dude. But I think I'm just gonna head home."

He put his cup down and started to get up.

"Suit yourself, man. Hey, you do know about the Bella oath, right?"

Jesse turned back. "What oath?"

"If a Bella sleeps with a Treble, she gets kicked out of the group."

"Seriously?" Jesse asked incredulously. That seemed a little extreme to him.

Donald nodded. "This girl Kori that I hooked up with on Hood Night got kicked out. She didn't even make it to the first practice. Something about vocal chords being ripped out by wolves. Let's just say she stopped talking to me after that."

"Beca never said anything."

"Maybe she felt like you didn't need to know." There was the implication that Beca didn't feel like Jesse had to know because she didn't plan on sleeping with him ever, but Donald thankfully didn't voice that.

Instead, Donald stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, if this Beca chick starts to like you then great. But you're a freshman, you're a Treble, you've got a lot going for you. You don't want to spend your entire college career pining over one girl. Believe me, it sucks."

Jesse looked at Donald, the shadow of pain flickering in the older boy's eyes. But as soon as it was there, it was gone. He was speaking from experience, Jesse knew. And as curious as he was about it, he also knew better than to ask. There were some scars that didn't need to be poked at.

"Beca...she's not just some girl," Jesse sighed. "She's different from anyone I've ever known. And yeah, she's prickly on the outside but...she's worth it. I just know it. I feel it."

Donald shook his head. "You've got it bad. You poor kid." He took a sip of his beer and raised the cup to Jesse in a toast. "Best of luck to you. I hope you get your girl, in the end."

Jesse grinned back at him. "Endings are the best part. You'll see."

X

When Beca walked into the station Jesse was already there. He had his back to her, shelving records while he swayed slightly and sang along to the song playing over the station speakers. She recognized the song. It was _Smile Like You Mean It_ by The Killers.

Beca took a deep breath and tried to gather herself. Much to her dismay, Jesse's performance at the mixer had left its imprint on her brain and she had been having...dreams...for the past few nights. Dreams that she didn't need to be thinking about at this very moment.

Her eyes landed on the desk. Luke's precious desk. The very desk that Luke had told them not to have sex on within two minutes of Beca and Jesse meeting one another.

_Beca was standing at the desk, reading the back of a CD, when Jesse's body pressed onto hers from behind. Her eyes closed as she felt his hands on her hips, her back flush against his chest._

"_Jesse," she said, her voice hoarse. "What are you doing?"_

"_Breaking Luke's rule," he murmured, his breath hot on her ear, his thumbs now tracing circles on the bare strip of skin above her waistline._

_This wasn't a good idea...this wasn't a good idea..._

_Jesse's lips lightly brushed her neck and fire burned through her body._

_This was the best idea ever..._

"Hey," Jesse said and Beca abruptly snapped back to reality, the memory of her dream falling away. "I didn't see you at the party the other night."

"Yeah, I was tired," Beca said, dropping her bag onto the table. "Didn't feel up to partying."

Jesse nodded. "How was your weekend?"

She had spent most of it with her headphones on her head, blocking out the world and fervently using bass notes and downbeats to drown out the images of Jesse singing...Jesse dancing...Jesse chatting it up with perky aca-groupies. She had obsessed over her music so thoroughly that she now had a fresh USB filled with new mixes in her pocket, ready to hand off to Luke. Even though by now Beca was pretty sure her boss was only taking her USBs to humor her and he wasn't actually listening to them. She had to keep trying anyway.

"Fine," she said. "Yours?"

"Spent most of it cleaning the Treble house. You can imagine how fun that was."

"Party got a little wild?"

"I guess. I wouldn't know since I bailed early."

Beca looked up in interest. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Performing is great but it usually leaves me exhausted afterwards, once the adrenaline rush is gone. And I was already really tired because of practices and keeping up with homework."

Beca nodded, trying to figure out how to ask the question she wanted to ask without actually asking it. "So you and Benji bailed early?"

"I did. Spent the rest of the night unwinding alone in our room with a couple of movies. Benji, believe it or not, was quite the party animal. He didn't come in until almost dawn. I think some of your fellow Bellas have taken a shine to him," Jesse chuckled.

All Beca heard was that he had gone home alone and she breathed a sigh of relief. And then she had to pause. What was wrong with her? It shouldn't matter to her whether or not Jesse went home alone. He could have a freaking orgy if he wanted to. It's not anything that should affect her.

She grabbed a cart full of records, ready to distract herself with work. But Jesse was suddenly by her side.

"Guess what."

She stared at him blankly.

"Not the guessing type?"

Beca wheeled the cart past him and over to the shelves.

"Okay, okay. You don't have to pull my leg." Jesse followed behind her. "I'll tell you. Bumper's giving me lead vocals at Regionals. Well, me and Donald."

Beca couldn't help smiling in spite of herself. Jesse was literally bouncing in excitement and, she suspected, probably from a caffeine high. "Wow. Congrats, dude."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not but I don't care, I'm too happy."

"I wasn't being sarcastic," she told him. "Seriously, congratulations. You...you deserve it."

Jesse beamed at her and Beca had to force herself to look away from that ridiculously adorable child-like smile, his dimples making him look even more boyish.

"Jesse," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Get to work."

"Oh! Right." He took his own cart and wheeled it over to the shelf adjacent to hers.

Beca watched out of the corner of her eye as Jesse whistled while he shelved the records, looking far too happy as he did the mundane task. He was wearing a grey denim button-down short sleeved polo today, neatly pressed and buttoned up to his collar bone like a good Sunday school boy. He looked exactly like the clean-cut, happy-go-lucky nerd she had gotten used to seeing nearly everyday for the past three months. Beca had a hard time reconciling this Jesse, _her _Jesse (Wait, her Jesse? No no no no no. Not her Jesse. Definitely not her Jesse) with the Jesse that she saw on stage last Friday night. The...sex god that had gyrated on stage and whose voice was as smooth as honey. How could they be the same person? How many more sides of Jesse did she not know?

And damnit, why was she so intrigued?

Suddenly, being ten feet away from him wasn't far enough and Beca spent the next half hour carrying boxes of records from the back room out to the front. Jesse had tried to help her but she brushed him off and he quietly went back to his own work.

Beca could feel him watching her as she opened up the boxes and methodically placed the records onto a cart. A month ago he might have pestered her until she talked to him but by now he knew how to bide his time. He had learned to use silences strategically to his advantage, having figured out that Beca opened up much more when she was given time and space. It irritated her how well he already knew her. Especially now that she was discovering that she didn't really know him at all.

She was about to give in and just break the silence between them when Jesse suddenly wheeled away his almost empty cart, disappearing behind the shelves. Beca huffed in irritation - at him, at herself - and turned back to her records.

The music that Luke was playing in the booth became more upbeat and she forced herself to put Jesse out of her mind as she alphabetized the records.

She'd only had about two minutes of peace when a baby's face suddenly appeared in front of her. Beca tried to keep a straight face and not give him the reaction that he wanted.

Next was Adam Lambert and Beca couldn't hold back a smile as Jesse aligned the record perfectly with his body. She wiped the smile away as he lowered the record and smirked at her. She pulled her cart along behind her, still trying to work though admittedly she couldn't concentrate anymore. A large eyeball appeared from between the shelves and this time Beca couldn't hold back her laugh.

She grabbed a record to place on the shelf but Jesse still had one more up sleeve. The face of a Ted Nugent record appeared in front of her and she smiled as Jesse lowered the record and copied the ridiculous expression, growling at her. She smirked at him. He really was a dork.

"Jesse?" Luke said from behind her.

"Yeah."

"I'm starving so could you..."

"You want me to get you lunch?"

Luke murmured his assent.

"You should probably lay off the burgers. You're not going to be twenty-two forever, you know?"

Beca couldn't quite believe Jesse's gall but then Luke was lifting up his shirt and showing of his admittedly quite impressive six pack.

"I think I'm good," Luke said."

Okay so she wasn't into Luke that way but she's a girl and not even she's immune to a hot guy showing off his body in front of her.

"He's good," she confirmed. "You're good."

Jesse looked dismayed. "And the chess match continues," he muttered and walked off.

"Uh hey," Beca said, deciding to take advantage of the few minutes that Luke was out of the booth. "This is my new mix. If there's anything you wanted to play..."

"Cool. I'll put it on the pile."

"Okay." She turned back to her cart as Luke returned to the booth.

She thought she saw him carelessly toss the USB onto a tray and she wondered how many of those he now had piled up in there. It didn't matter, Beca wasn't going to give up. She'd keep giving him her mixes until that booth was overflowing with her USBs and then he'd have to listen to one eventually...right?

That's what she told herself to stem the bitter wave of disappointment.

X

Beca hated to admit it but her dad was right, studying in the quad actually was nice. Although she mostly worked on her mixes instead of studying, Beca found herself out on the quad almost everyday. The warm Georgia sun along with the fresh Fall breeze made for ideal outdoor weather that she didn't mind taking advantage of. And it got her away from Kimmy Jin's deafening silence in their room. Always a plus.

But she should have known that it would only be a matter of time before Jesse found her. She's honestly surprised that it took him this long.

"What's up weirdo," he greeted her, tossing her a juice pouch.

"Okay..."

Beca watched him lay out a blanket beside her, making himself right at home like she'd invited him, and begin taking things out of his bag.

"What's this?" She asked, unable to hide the amusement in her voice.

"As much as I love spending time with you stacking CDs and I do. I love it, like, more than life. I figured we could do some other fun things that don't make us want to kill ourselves, right?"

She made a soft mumble of agreement as she struggled with the straw of the juice pouch. She didn't think she's had one of these since she was eight.

"So I brought some movies," he continued. "Jaws, E.T., Breakfast Club, Star Wars, and Rocky. Best scored and soundtracked movies of all time. That's what I wanna do when I grow up, I wanna score movies. Bring people to tears, you know, blow their minds. I feel like only music can do that."

Beca watched him as she sipped her juice, noticing that he stopped looking her in the eye once he started talking about his dream to score movies and can't help but think how adorable he looks when he's talking about the things he's passionate about. She shakes off that thought quickly.

"Yeah. You must really sweep your girlfriend off her feet."

Did she just say...? Where did that come from?

"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend."

"What!" She exclaims, purposely playing up her reaction while trying to suppress the butterflies in her stomach.

She'd figured out awhile ago that Fat Amy and Stacie had about a 0.08 percent chance of being right about Jesse having a girlfriend but it was still nice to actually hear him say the words.

"No." He shakes his head.

"You have juice pouches and Rocky!"

He quickly grasps that she's making fun of him and looks quite amused. "Okay. So what do you want to watch first?"

"Can we do something else?"

He turns his attention from his movies back to her.

She kept the sarcastic smile on her face. "We could relive my parent's divorce. Or visit the gynecologist."

"What, do you not like movies or something?"

Beca nonchalantly sips her juice.

"Like any movies?" He asks disbelievingly, his face screwing up in actual distress. "What the hell is wrong with you? How do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking…puppies."

"They're fine. I just get bored and never make it to the end."

"The endings are the best part!" Jesse protested.

"They're predictable. Like, the guy gets the girl and that kid sees dead people. And Darth Vader is Luke's father."

Jesse looked like he couldn't comprehend what she was saying.

"Oh, right, so you just happened to guess the biggest cinematic reveal in history?" He asked incredulously.

"Vader in German means father," Beca said. "His name literally means Darth Father."

"So you know German...That explains why you don't like fun things."

Beca made a face at him.

"What you need is a movie education...a moviecation. And I'm going to give it to you."

"Yeah, in between Bella rehearsals, which is always."

Jesse looked at her sympathetically. "Are you guys preparing for the riff-off?"

"What the hell is a riff-off?"

"It's a competition between all of Barden's a capella groups. We get together at the empty pool, have our own a capella stand down, best team wins. Wait, how do you not know about this? It's tonight!"

Beca looked away from him guiltily, though what she had to feel guilty about, she didn't know. "I may not always listen when Aubrey talks. She has been wound up even tighter than usual though, and we are supposed to meet up tonight, which is a weird time to practice, even for her."

Jesse chuckled. "Well then Bumper's been stressing out about nothing if Aubrey hasn't even been prepping you guys."

"What's the point in having a competition between ourselves anyway? Won't there be enough competition come spring time?"

"It's fun," Jesse said and Beca made a face. "Okay, nevermind, that's not a good enough reason for you, Ms. Put Downer Of All Things Fun. Does there have to be a reason? Can't all we aca people get together and drink, have a good time, and challenge each other's vocal chops?"

Beca shook her head, wondering for the millionth time what she had gotten herself into when she joined the Bellas.

Jesse's eyes drifted down to her open laptop. "What are you doing? Oh cool, is that a mixing program?" He leaned in to get a closer look, his arm coming down on Beca's knee. The top of his head was right in her eyesight and whatever shampoo he used, it smelled nice. Not that she was sniffing him or anything. Because that would be weird.

"I'm uh, making mixes," she explained. "You know, mash-ups of songs, stuff like that."

"Is this what you've been giving to Luke?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping that if he likes something enough he might play it. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't even listen to them. Fifty bucks worth of USBs just rotting away in that booth," Beca sighed. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, she really did. But she knew she wasn't successful.

"This is awesome," Jesse said, sitting back up. "I mean, not the Luke thing. Luke's a tool. But this is some pretty serious software that you've got."

"Yup. You're looking at the product of six months worth of tips from waiting tables."

"Wow. You, as a waitress. I never pictured it. Huh. You learn something new everyday."

"Come on, don't tell me you never did menial work in high school."

"I did, actually. Grocery bag boy right here, at your service." He tipped an imaginary cap to her and she laughed.

"So, what are you working on now? Can I listen?" He started to reach for her headphones but Beca abruptly slams shut her laptop.

"No!" She snapped. "I mean, uh, what I'm working on right now is not finished yet."

He nodded. "Okay, yeah, I get it. I don't really let anyone listen to my unfinished pieces either. But...do you think I could maybe hear it when you're done?"

He looked at her almost shyly and Beca was surprised at how timid and unsure he seemed. She wasn't used to this Jesse. The Jesse that she knew was confident and self-assured, almost to the point of being cocky. He was pushy and playful. He wasn't shy or timid.

"Do you write music?" She asked curiously.

Jesse scratched the back of his neck and looked away from her. "Since my dream is to compose music for movies, yeah, I do kind of write my own stuff."

"That's cool. What instrument do you play?"

"I play piano the most. I started having lessons when I was four. I also play guitar, violin, drums, saxophone, and trombone."

Beca's eyebrows raised. Color her impressed. "All of that?"

He nodded. "My grandpa was a Jazz musician. He's the reason why I started taking piano lessons when I was so young. Unlike my dad, I actually took an interest in his music and his instruments so he wanted to start my training as early as possible. He taught me to play the saxophone and guitar himself, I taught myself to play drums, and I enrolled in violin lessons at the same music school that I took piano lessons in. I learned trombone for my school's marching band in middle school. I guess if this whole composing thing doesn't work out, I can always join an orchestra or something. I was going to be a concert pianist, actually. I applied to Julliard and everything."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "My grandpa passed away last year, stomach cancer. The last talk that we had, he told me that he was really proud of me, of the musician that I've become, of the musician that I'm going to be. But he knows that playing other people's music isn't really what I want to do for the rest of my life. And that I should figure out what I want to do, what will really make me happy. My grandpa's never really understood my obsession with movies, but we've always bonded over great scores. Whenever he'd get sick of my going on about movies, or I'd get sick of his music, we would put on a movie that has a score that we both love. And we would just...watch and listen and be content with each other and our own respective passions. I want to be able to create something like that. Something real and meaningful that can bridge the divide between different people."

Beca didn't know what to say. She didn't expect this side of Jesse, a side that lived and breathed music as much as she did. A side that knows that music really matters and that it can make a difference in people's lives. Music can bond a grandfather and grandson, music can drown out the voices of parents yelling and fill the void that an absentee father left behind. Music is not just a hobby, it can be a way of living. Looking at Jesse now, she knows that he understands that.

"I started making mixes around the time my parents divorced," Beca said, focusing her gaze on the grass and not on Jesse's face. He shared himself with her so she figures the least she can do is share a little something of herself as well. "I had this stupid little start-up mixing program. The speed and sound quality was so horrible compared to what I have now but it allowed me to stitch different pieces of music together, to find the common thread in stuff that are so different, that shouldn't go together at all. But when you get it right, you can make something so beautiful. I guess I was trying to do with my music what my parents gave up on in their marriage."

"That...that's deep, Beca," Jesse said. She looked up but there was not a trace of anything mocking in his eyes. In fact, he was looking at her with something akin to awe and a deep respect.

"Yeah, well..." she shrugged and crossed her arms over chest, feeling uncomfortable and exposed.

"Hey, we have a few hours to kill before the riff-off," Jesse said. "Since my movies have been soundly rejected, how about we get something to eat? Donald told me about this pizza place a few blocks off campus that he says is really good. And I know, I know that you will sorely miss the paper tasting delicacies of the dining hall but I think I can survive one night without lead in my stomach, what do you think?"

Beca laughed. He was so ridiculous. "You're an idiot." She rolled her eyes. "Let's go, I'm starving."

* * *

**Next up: Riff-Off and The Breakfast Club! :D**

**Passerby: I had no idea that the actors that played Bumper and Jessica are dating. That's pretty cool. But I feel like putting Bumper and Jessica together just because of that would be akin to pairing Aubrey and Jesse together just because the actors are dating. There's nothing in canon to really support it. Not that I'm personally against either pairing (maybe Aubrey and Jesse lol), it's just not for this fic.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

She was six minutes late to the Bellas meeting and Aubrey just about ripped her head off. Beca was sure that Aubrey could have gone on ranting all night about punctuality and discipline and how Beca needed to be more of a team player but they had to leave to make their way to the pool. Beca didn't care though, she was in a pretty good mood. The pizza _was_ good, Donald hadn't lied. She and Jesse had shared a large pie and eaten every piece. They had spent more time at the restaurant than they had intended, tucked away in a corner booth, eating and talking about nothing and everything. Jesse regaled her with more movie trivia than Beca ever cared to know, did imitations of actors and characters that Beca tried very hard not to laugh at (unsuccessfully, much to Jesse's delight), and they talked more about music, both their own and what they liked to listen to.

Beca knew that Jesse was just as late to the Trebles meeting, even more than her because he insisted on walking her to just outside the auditorium, but she highly doubted that Bumper would give him the chewing out that Aubrey just did her. Chloe gave her a reassuring smile as they brought up the rear of the group as they walked to the pool.

"What's up with this riff-off thing?" Beca asked.

"You'll see. It's pretty fun, I think you'll like it."

She raised an eyebrow. Jesse had said almost the same thing when she had tried to press him for more details about the riff-off.

"So, where were you tonight?" Chloe asked, changing the subject. "Fat Amy and I stopped by your room to pick you up but you weren't there."

Beca shrugged. "Just went to get pizza off campus. There's only so much dining hall food I can take."

"Oh. Did you have company?"

She looked at Chloe, wondering how much the older girl knew. But fortunately she was saved from answering by their arrival at the empty pool.

Beca was surprised at the amount of people there, scattered around the rim of the pool, mingling and passing around beer and an assortment of other types of alcohol. It was like aca-initiation night all over again.

The Bellas climbed down into the shallow end of the pool and walked over to the deep end, where the other a capella groups were already gathered, including the Trebles.

Jesse turned from his conversation with Unicycle, his whole face lighting up as he caught sight of her. He gave her a large grin and a wave, which Beca rolled her eyes to. He was such a dork, they had only seen each other ten minutes ago.

She could see Chloe's smirk in her peripheral vision but ignored it, instead watching as Benji rushed over and Jesse happily greeted him. She could see Bumper being his usual jerky self and Beca could finally understand the choice of location for this particular contest as Benji took advantage of his few minutes inside the pool and pointed out the sweet spot, his voice echoing around them. Benji left to join the other spectators and Beca could see Jesse lightly scolding Bumper for being rude to his friend. It made her smile, seeing how protective Jesse was of Benji. She knew that if it was in his power to let his friend into the Treblemakers, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"See something interesting?" Ashley asked, coming up from behind Beca.

"What?" She started.

"You're watching them pretty intensely."

"I just want this thing to start already so we can get out of here."

Ashley smiled knowingly and turned to talk to Denise. What the hell was up with these girls and the way they smiled at her like they knew something that she didn't?

Beca was contemplating this when Jesse caught her attention again, mouthing "I'm taking you down", complete with hand gesture.

She mouthed back "I don't care."

He shrugged and mouthed "Okay," and Beca tried very hard not to notice how adorable he looked. She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts and forcibly turned her gaze away from him, just as Justin came over to start reciting the rules of the competition.

But Beca still couldn't keep her eyes off of Jesse's smirking, overconfident face and missed most of Justin's spiel except that the prize was some old microphone that Hoobastank supposedly used. As much as she didn't care about the competition, the urge to take Jesse down a peg was suddenly overcoming her.

Justin declared the first category to be ladies of the eighties. It was right up Aubrey's alley but Bumper beat the eager blonde to the punch, leading the Trebles into an enthusiastic rendition of _Hey Mickey_.

Beca smirked as she watched Jesse, who was clearly into it. She could so easily discern his "Hey!" from the rest of the Treble voices. Baloney Barb of the BU Harmonics stepped up and cut them off with surprise, surprise, Madonna.

Aubrey fired back with _Hit Me With Your Best Shot_, the Bellas backing her up beautifully. Beca was starting to think that this might not be half bad as she joined in on the harmony. They sounded pretty good and this was without any rehearsal.

But they were cut short when one of the Highnotes stepped up to Aubrey and tried to begin a painful sounding verse from _It Must Have Been Love_. Justin declares the Highnotes as "cut off!"

The Bellas retreat back to their side of the pool and Beca steps up next to Chloe.

"So you just pick any song that works?" She asks.

"Yeah."

"And you just go with it?"

Chloe nods in confirmation.

"Nice."

Beca liked the spontaneity of this, how you just had to go with your gut instinct and then rely on the chances that the rest of your group knows the song. The next category that Justin lands on, 'Songs About Sex', is much more up Beca's alley and she can see Aubrey already having a minor freak out. They've obviously left her comfort zone, but the rest of the Bellas don't disappoint as Cynthia Rose runs forward and beats Donald to the punch.

"_Na na na come on...Na na na na come on!"_

Beca joins the rest of the Bellas in singing the backing beat as Stacie steps forward and complements Cynthia Rose's voice perfectly.

"_Cause I may be bad but I'm perfectly good at it. Sex in the air but I love the smell of it..."_

Okay, she's enjoying this now. These girls, _her _girls, sound awesome and CR and Stacie are certainly sticking it to the Trebles right now.

"_Sex baby. Let's talk about you and me..."_

Of course they retaliate with the most obvious choice in this little genre that Justin, or whoever, has made up. The Bellas retreat again and Aubrey tries to pull Stacie away but apparently Stacie hasn't used up her quota of sex songs. Beca wonders if Stacie even has a limit on her quota of sex songs.

"_Baby all through the night, I'll make love to you, like you want me to. And I-"_

Donald and the rest of the Trebles have retreated but then Jesse, freaking Jesse, comes forward and cuts Stacie off.

"_And I guess it's just the woman in you, that brings out the man in me..._"

Stacie turns away, finally defeated, and Jesse locks eyes with Beca and points right at her. She can't help her amused eye roll. He's goading her and she shouldn't like it so much but god, that voice...

She's been dreaming of that voice ever since the mixer and now here it was, amplified by the awesome acoustics of the pool and making her tingle from the top of her head all the way down to her toes.

"_I know I can't help myself, you're all in the world to me," _Jesse continued, still singing right to her as the Trebles broke their huddle behind him and backed him up. "_It feels like the first time..._."

Oh, he's good. He's really good. But Beca will be damned if she lets herself play into his hands.

She blows him a sarcastic kiss and it spurs him on, his voice carrying up above the rest of the Trebles and he opens up the flaps of his jacket and shakes his hips in a way that Beca really wished wasn't attractive.

Up to this point Beca hadn't been putting in the effort to think up a song come back. She was perfectly happy to go along with whatever the other girls thought up and sing her part in the backing harmonies.

But now Jesse had laid down the gauntlet. He wasn't challenging the Bellas, he was challenging her.

The Bellas didn't exist at the moment, neither did the Trebles. Right now Jesse was in front of her, kicking her ass at this stupid riff-off and looking sexy as hell while doing it. This couldn't stand.

Before her brain could even begin to process what she was doing, she was running out to the middle of the pool, meeting Jesse head on.

"_It's going down. Fade to Blackstreet. The home got RB, collab creations. Bump like acne, no doubt, I put it down, never slouch. As long as my credit can vouch. A dog couldn't catch me straight up. Tell me who can stop when Dre making moves, attracting honeys like a magnet. Giving 'em eargasms_ _with my mellow accent. Still moving this flavor, with the homies Blackstreet and Teddy. The original rump shakers."_

Beca relishes the stunned and impressed look on Jesse's face when she first starts rapping in his face but now it's dead silent in the pool and Beca can't help but wonder if she'd just really badly embarrassed herself.

It's Jesse, her competition, the very reason that she has found herself in this pickle that she's now in, who urges her on.

"Keep going," he tells her.

"_Shorty, get down. Good lord..."_ She turns to her Bellas for support. They had to know this song, right? They wouldn't just leave her hanging like that Highnoter that got cut off. "_Baby got em open all over town..."_

Finally, Fat Amy comes forward and the rest of the girls are close behind, giving her the backing harmonies that she needs. To Beca's astonishment, the BU Harmonics and the audience above them also starts to join in.

She walks around the pool, relishing the music that they're making. These random people, singing and forming perfect harmonies because of her.

This was amazing. This was what a capella could be, this spontaneous amalgam of beats and harmonies. This was what music does, it brings all these random people together. This is the reason that she wants to make music so badly.

Beca completes her circle around the center of the pool, taking her place in the middle of her Bellas. "We out."

"And you're welcome." She can't resist the dig at Jesse and the rest of the Trebles. But while Bumper and company look suitably butthurt, Jesse is clapping and genuinely smiling at her.

The boy knew how to accept defeat gracefully, she'd give him that. But Beca hadn't even begun to enjoy her win when Justin declares them "cut off" because of a ridiculous technicality. He declares the Treblemakers as the winners much to all of the Bellas disbelief.

Beca puts up with Aubrey's scathing looks all throughout their walk home but she doesn't care, she's still on a high from what she did, what her Bellas did. She knew that they had the potential to be awesome and the riff-off just proved that. But Aubrey still couldn't see it.

When she gets back to her room she's still so pumped that she spends the entire night working on her mix. By the time the sun starts to come up outside of her window, Beca finally has a finished product that she's fully satisfied with.

X

Thanks to Beca he'd spent almost the entire night listening to _No Diggity_. Jesse couldn't forget the look on her face as she ran up to him in the middle of that pool and started rapping. _Rapping_. He could still see the way her eyes shone when the Bellas joined her, he could see the way her smile lit up her entire face as the audience also joined in. It was the first time that he'd seen her really and truly happy. If Jesse thought Beca was beautiful before, when she was happy, she was absolutely radiant. Almost ethereal in her beauty. A goddess with an attitude and an angelic voice.

If Jesse hadn't known it before, he was really falling hard for this girl. He was in way over his head. Not even her complete apathy towards movies could deter him. What would be a deal breaker in any other girl, was just another odd quirk in Beca that he found cute. He reveled in the challenge to find a movie that will melt her ice cold heart. There had to be one out there and who better to find it than Jesse himself, the self-proclaimed King of Movies? She didn't say no to moviecations, after all.

He's early at work for once and Luke gives him a suspicious look before handing him a box of CDs from inside the booth. Jesse quickly places it on the desk and sticks his head through the door of the booth.

"Luke, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Out of the booth."

Jesse rolls his eyes and stands up straight, taking any part of his body out of the booth while still remaining in the doorway. Luke gets up from his seat with a huge sigh and walks over to him.

"What is it?"

Jesse looks over the Brit's shoulder at the tray that is full of USBs. Beca's USBs, he knows.

"I know that Beca has been giving you her mixes and I really think that you should listen to them."

"Really? And why is that?"

"Because they're awesome and they deserve to be played on air."

"Tell me, Jesse," Luke drawls. "Have you heard any of these mixes?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Do you know how many wannabe DJ's and musicians come here thinking that they're the shit and want their stuff to be played on the air? Thinking that this'll be their big break or some sort of stepping stone? Do you know that nine out of ten times their stuff is absolute crap?"

"That's not Beca. Listen-" Jesse argues.

"I understand that you want to get laid," Luke says condescendingly. "You get me to play her crappy mixes and Becky will fall right into your arms. I was a Freshman too once, it's a neat trick. But leave me out of it."

"No, that's not it. Beca's so talented, you don't even know."

"You seem so confident about this and yet you just said yourself that you've never heard her stuff.

"Because I know Beca," Jesse tells him.

"That's cute really. I can see the stars in your eyes. I'll tell you what, talk to me when you've actually heard something of hers."

And with that Luke abruptly closes the door of the booth in Jesse's face.

"I will do that," he yells. "We'll talk later."

"Talk about what?"

Jesse jumps, turning around to see Beca standing near the door.

"Hey, you just came in?"

"Yeah. What are you yelling at Luke about?"

"Oh, you know, trying to get him to give me his work-out secrets. I wanted to know how much he can bench press."

Beca throws him an odd look. "Weirdo," she mutters not so quietly as she dumps her bag onto the desk.

"So...last night." Jesse grinned. "That was awesome."

Beca shrugged modestly but she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Of course we still won," he boasted. "But that was to be expected."

She rolled her eyes. "That was a bullshit technicality and you know it. We kicked your Treble asses."

"Okay, fine. You should have won," Jesse acknowledged. "Seriously, Beca, what you did was unbelievable. You had that entire pool eating out of your hand."

Beca turned away, placing a couple of CDs on the shelf but her hair was up today, braided and pinned to the back of her head, and he could a red flush creeping up her neck. He grinned and then bit it back as she turned around again, coming back to the table.

"It was pretty cool," she admitted. "Aubrey chewed me out because we lost. But it was worth it just to see what the Bellas are capable of."

There it was again. Jesse could see her eyes shining in the way that only music could inspire. He smiled at her, completely entranced.

"I couldn't even sleep, you know?" She continued. "I was too wired. I spent the night finishing my new mix."

He brightened. "The one you were working on yesterday? Can I listen to it now?"

Beca stopped taking CDs out of a box and looked up at him. He could see the hesitation in her eyes.

"You said you don't let people listen to your unfinished stuff. The mix is finished now so..."

She looked at him. "Okay. I'll let you listen to it, on one condition."

He smiled triumphantly. "Anything."

"You'll play me something that you wrote."

His smile fell. "Um..." He scratched the back of his neck. It wasn't that he was ashamed of his music, exactly. He thought he had a few pieces that were somewhat decent. It was just that the thought of _Beca _listening to it made him feel like he might break out into hives.

"Not that easy is it?" She smirked.

Jesse's eyes narrowed. So it was a challenge and she thought she had him. He glanced back at the booth, Luke was talking into the microphone, completely oblivious to them.

"Alright. Counter-condition," he said.

Beca looked up in surprise. Apparently she thought the discussion was closed.

"I'll play you something but you have to let me start your moviecation."

She groaned. "You were serious about that?"

"I don't joke about movies, Beca. It's possibly the one thing in my life that I take seriously. Well, except for my music. And my studies, most of the time. And the health of my family. And-"

"Oh my god, stop talking. Fine, we'll do your stupid moviecation."

"Okay. Okay!" He dropped the CD that he was holding back into the box and it made a faint clink sound as it crashed onto the other CDs. "Do you have Bella practice later?"

"No. Aubrey gave us the day off to rest our vocal chords and give us time to 'meditate' on what we did wrong last night."

"Okay, then my place..." Jesse trailed off, remembering that Benji would be there and that for his new magic trick he'd taken to practicing with a pigeon.

He figured that this was as close to a date with Beca as he was going to get. He didn't want Benji there waving a lightsaber around, with a pigeon flying over their heads, and gerbils crawling around their feet.

"What's wrong?" Beca asked.

"Uh, Benji has a test to study for. I don't think he'll appreciate us crashing on him."

"Whatever, just come over to my place."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I heard Kimmy Jin making plans with her friends this morning. I'm pretty sure she'll be out."

"Okay." He grinned. "It's a...uh...moviecation."

Beca looked at from over her shoulder as she shelved a few CDs. "Weirdo," she mouthed.

Jesse blindly grabbed a few CDs from his box and walked around a shelf and out of Beca's sight. He raised his arm in a fist pump.

He knew exactly what movie he was bringing tonight.

X

She wasn't nervous.

That's what Beca told herself as she made up her bed for the first time since the semester started. That's what she told herself as she cleaned up the clothes scattered on her floor. That's what she told herself as she listened to her mix for the millionth time to make sure it was perfect.

It's not like it was a date. She and Jesse were just going to hang out. Like they've been doing nearly everyday for three months now. This was no different.

It was just Jesse.

She jumped as a knock sounded on her door, abruptly dropping the headphones that she was holding onto her lap. She looked at the clock and rolled her eyes. Of course the nerd was here at exactly eight o'clock.

She walked over to the door, pausing to smooth down her shirt. When she opened it, Jesse was standing there, his backpack slung over one shoulder, his usual grin on his face.

"Ready for your moviecation?" He asked.

She sighed heavily and leaned against the door. "If I must," she groaned.

"That's the spirit!" He walked past her into the room. "I have to say, I love your enthusiasm, Beca."

She closed the door and watched as Jesse took his laptop out and set his backpack on the floor. He was making himself right at home and it was catching her off guard, how normal this all seems. Like he was here every day. Like he belonged here, in her room, in her life. It didn't help that he was now taking off his blue hoodie, revealing a black tight fitting shirt beneath. The short sleeves accentuated his biceps and she could barely drag her eyes away.

Jesse was oblivious to the thoughts swirling around Beca's head. He placed the laptop on her bed and was about to set it up when her computer caught his attention and he walked over to it, bending down to get a better look at her open mixing program.

"I really wish I knew how stuff like this worked," he said. "I'm more into composing and playing music. This whole mixing and engineering stuff is way over my head."

"It's not that hard, once you get used to it," Beca said, walking over to him. She gently pushed him out of the way so that she could sit on her chair. "I can show you how I do some of it, if you want."

He smiled and gestured grandly to her computer. "Show away, Ms. Mitchell. I am your willing pupil."

She bit back a smile and placed her headphones over her ears, taking a minute sync up her two computers and start up the music.

"So, uh, I just find songs that are the same chord progression and create a track that blends them together," she said. "So, like, this is the new bass line and this is matching up downbeats."

Jesse took a seat on her bed and was nodding at her in amusement. Beca realized how loud her music was and that she was pretty much shouting at him. She took her headphones off sheepishly.

"Oh, I'm talking really loud. Um, that's me singing."

Jesse took her headphones and put them on. It was the longest minute of Beca's life as she watched him listen to something she had slaved over, his head bobbing in time to the music.

"This is really good!" He said loudly. "Now I'm the one yelling, right?"

He takes the headphones off and hands it back to her. "That is amazing, Beca."

"Thanks," she said softly, feeling really and truly vulnerable for the first time. As much as she didn't want to admit it or analyze the reasons why, Jesse's opinion meant a lot to her.

"So, I brought this over." He held up _The Breakfast Club_, a movie that Beca had heard about but had never seen. "Because I want to watch you watch the end of this. And then I can die a hero."

She watched as Jesse made himself comfortable on her bed, propping up pillows behind him and opening up his laptop.

"You have a habit of making yourself at home, you know that?" She asked. It was true. In the radio station, on the quad, onstage, in her bedroom...there was seemingly no place that Jesse couldn't make himself belong. It was like he'd always been there. Beca has only known this guy for a few months and she was already beginning to forget what her world was like without his larger than life presence in it.

Jesse turned out the light and Beca had to clear her throat. There was perhaps such a thing as being too comfortable, though she joined him on the bed anyways. She hadn't even fully situated herself before Jesse began his spiel.

"Okay. The Breakfast Club. 1985. The best ending to any movie ever. This song launched Simple Minds in the U.S. It could have been a Billy Idol song but he turned it down. Idiot."

Beca laughed because seriously, this dude was talking her through the movie?

"It perfectly sums up the movie," Jesse continued, oblivious to her amusement. "It's equally beautiful and sad."

"That is fascinating," she said in mock awe.

"Right?"

"Tell me what does Judd Nelson eat for breakfast?"

"Like all misunderstood rebels he feeds on hypocrisy..."

"Sure."

"And black coffee. To help with his morning dumps."

Beca couldn't hold back her smile. Seriously, this dude...

"You're an idiot," she said.

"It's true," he protested. "I'm full of fun facts."

"You should let other people tell you they're fun," she retorted.

The voiceover started over a shot of Judd Nelson walking through a football field. Jesse was now noticeably silent and when Beca glanced over, he was actually mouthing along to the voiceover. And when Judd Nelson raised his fist, Jesse does a little fist pump himself.

He was such a nerd. Seriously the biggest nerd she knew. But it was maybe a little bit or...okay, a lot adorable.

"You're missing the ending," he scolds her.

"Sorry." Beca tries to return her attention to the movie except now she can feel Jesse's eyes on her.

She looks back and her heart stutters as their eyes meet. In just a few seconds the atmosphere in the room has gone from light and teasing to so heavy that it was like something was pressing in on her chest, making her unable to breathe.

Jesse's gaze travels from her eyes to her lips and he's leaning in. Only a few inches separate them and for one second, one heartstopping second, Beca considers letting it happen. All she'd have to do is close her eyes and lean in those last few inches and then she'd be kissing Jesse Swanson.

It's that thought that makes her jump, turning her face back to the screen. She leans over to stop the movie.

"It's good," she said. "I'm sure the beginning is..."

Beca doesn't quite know what she's saying but she's saved from her rambling as the light turns on in the room and Kimmy Jin and her friends are at the door.

"The white girl is back," Kimmy says to her friends and if Beca wasn't grateful for her timely interruption, she'd be seriously offended. The room is suddenly much too crowded.

"And I'm out," Jesse says, shutting his laptop. He quickly stands and grabs his stuff, the bed shifting beneath Beca as it loses his weight.

"Always a pleasure, Kimmy Jin." He pauses at the door, turning to look at her and she can't quite meet his eyes. He nods in understanding, though what he understands is probably so far from the truth that it's funny.

Beca didn't turn away from that kiss because she didn't want it. She turned away because she wanted it too much.

X

Jesse was an idot. Truly an idiot.

Why had he tried to kiss her?

All the way on the walk to Beca's, he had told himself that it wasn't a date, that Beca had made it pretty clear that she didn't see him as anything other than a friend, and an annoying one at that.

Except...he had felt something in those few seconds that their eyes met. He could have sworn he had seen something there, a spark, a flicker of attraction. The air was thick and heavy with a tension that couldn't be one-sided. But it was just his imagination. It had to be because Beca sure couldn't turn away from him fast enough.

Idiot.

Now he was back to square one on his friendship with her. Three months of hard work gone because he couldn't control himself for one night.

He didn't even think that he could face her at the radio station today so he skips and texts Luke that he'll make up his shift at any other time.

He's trying to come up with a plan to avoid Beca for the rest of the week when Katie calls him, crying about the boy she had gone out with. Beca completely leaves his mind as he books his train ticket home, planning to leave first thing in the morning.

Jesse decides then and there that his own problems can wait, right now his sister needs him more.

* * *

**A/N: There you have it, I hope I did those scenes justice. *chews fingernails nervously***

**Passerby: I'm glad someone caught that, lol. I did make Beca a waitress as a nod to that video lol.**

**Anaeira: *blushes* Thank you!**


End file.
